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HEARINGS  REGARDING  COMMUNIST  ACTIVITIES 
IN  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII-PART  4 

(Testimony  of  Jack  H.  Kawano) 


HEARING 

BEFORE  THE 

COMMITTEE  ON  UN-AMERICAN  ACTIVITIES 
HOUSE  OF  REPEESENTATIYES 

EIGHTY-SECOND  CONGRESS 

FIRST  SESSION 


JULY  6,  1951 


Printed  for  the  use  of  the  Committee  on  Un-American  Activities 


UNITED   STATES 
GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
86378  WASHINGTON  :   1951 


> 


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H.  S.  SUPERfNTEhMJENT  OF  OOCUftfltWfS 

AUG    9   1951 


COMMITTEE  ON  UN-AMERICAN  ACTIVITIES 

United  States  House  of  Representatives 

JOHN  S.  WOOD,  Georgia,  Chairman 

FRANCIS  E.  WALTER,  Pennsylvania  HAROLD  H.  VELDE,  Illinois 

MORGAN  M.  MOULDER,  Missouri  BERNARD  W.  KEARNEY,  New  York: 

CLYDE  DOYLE,  California  DONALD  L.  JACKSON,  California 

JAMES  B.  FRAZIER,  Jr.,  Tennessee  CHARLES  E.  POTTER  .Michigan 

Feank  S.  Tavenner,  Jr.,  Counsel 

Louis  J.  Russell,  Senior  Investigator 

John  W.  Carrington,  Clerk  of  Committee 

Raphael  I.  Nixon,  Director  of  Research 

II 


HEARINGS  REriAPxDINrT  COMMUNIST  ACTIVITIES  IN  THE 
TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII—PART  4 

TESTIMONY  OF  JACK  H.  KAWANO 


(Note. — The  earlier  testimony  of  Jack  H.  Kawano,  to  which  refer- 
ence is  made  herein,  was  taken  by  a  Subcommittee  of  the  Committee 
on  Un-American  Activities  on  April  19,  1950,  and  appears  in  hearings 
regarding  Communist  activities  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii — pt.  3, 
pp.  2055-2057.) 

FRIDAY,  JULY   6,    1951 

United  States  House  of  Representatives, 

Subcommittee  of  the 
Committee  on  Un-American  Activities, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
executive  session 

A  subcommittee  of  the  Committee  on  Un-American  Activities  met, 
pursuant  to  call,  at  10:45  a.  m.  in  room  226,  Old  House  Office  Building, 
Hon.  Francis  E.  Walter,  presiding. 

Committee  members  present:  Representatives  Francis  E.  Walter, 
Morgan  M.  Moulder,  Clyde  Doyle,  and  Harold  H.  Velde. 

Staff  members  present:  Frank  S.  Tavenner,  Jr.,  counsel;  Thomas  W. 
Beale,  Sr.,  assistant  counsel;  Courtney  E.  Owens,  investigator;  John 
W.  Carrington,  clerk;  and  Raphael  I.  Nixon,  director  of  research. 

Mr.  Walter.  The  committee  will  come  to  order. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  hearing,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  has 
designated  a  subcommittee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Moulder,  Doyle, 
Velde,  and  Walter,  all  of  whom  are  present. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Mr.  Chairman,  the  hearing  this  morning  is  in  the 
nature  of  a  continuance  of  the  Hawaii  hearings,  and  due  to  the  cir- 
cumstances we  feel  it  should  be  an  executive  session,  and  the  committee 
has  so  determined. 

Mr.  Walter.  Mr.  Kawano,  will  you  stand  and  hold  up  your  right 
hand,  please.  Do  you  swear  the  testimony  you  are  about  to  give 
shall  be  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  so  help 
you  God? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  do,  sir, 

TESTIMONY  OF  JACK  H.  KAWANO 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  state  yom-  full  name,  please? 

Mr.  Kawano.  My  name  is  Jack  H.  Kawano. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  When  and  where  were  you  born,  Mr.  Kawano? 

Air.  Kawano,  I  was  born  at  Puna,  T.  H.,  on  February  27,  1911. 

1 


Z  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Have  you  lived  substantially  all  your  life  in  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  All  of  my  life,  sir. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Wliat  has  been  your  educational  training,  Mr. 
Kawano? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  went  up  to  the  seventh  gi'ade. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  state  to  the  committee  what  your  em- 
ployment record  has  been;  that  is,  how  you  have  been  employed  since 
the  time  you  attained  your  majority? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  was  fii-st  employed  by  the  Hakalau  sugar  planta- 
tion, thenlmoved  to  the  Taketa  Transportation,  then  the  Hawaiian 
Pineapple  Co.  at  Lanai,  as  a  truck  ch'iver. 

Then  I  moved  to  Honolulu,  and  in  Honolulu  I  worked  as  a  truck 
driver  for  Mr.  Himuro,  Mr.  Fukamachi,  and  Mr.  Amii,  as  a  truck 
driver. 

In  early  1934  I  started  working  on  the  water  front  as  a  longshoreman 
for  Matson  Navigation  Co.,  and  then  for  Honolulu  Stevedores,  and 
for  Castle  &  Cooke  Terminals,  Ltd. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  you  have  any  other  employment  beside  that; 
that  is,  were  you  employed  by  a  union  as  a  full-time  employee? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  I  started  working  for  the  union  during  the 
summer  of  1937  without  pay,  and  I  continued  working  for  the  same 
union  until  the  end  of  1949.  After  we  first  got  organized  in  1941,  the 
union  decided  to  pay  me,  and  I  started  out  on  the  union  pa3Toll  in 
1941  until  the  end  of  1949. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  union  was  that? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  started  first  with  the  Honolulu  Longshoremen's 
Association,  and  later  on  when  it  was  affiliated  with  the  ILWU  on  the 
west  coast  and  changed  affiliation  from  AFL  to  CIO,  I  worked  for  the 
ILWU-CIO.     That  was  the  end  of  1937  or  1938. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Mr.  Kawano,  you  appeared  as  a  witness  before 
the  subcommittee  of  the  Committee  on  Un-American  Activities  sent 
to  Hawaii  in  April  1950,  and  at  that  time  you  answered  the  question 
as  to  whether  or  not  you  were  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party  at 
that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  did. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  you  testified  that  you  were  not  a  member  of 
the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  did. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  But  you  refused  to  answer  any  and  all  other 
questions  relating  to  past  affiliations  with  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  were  then  cited  by  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives for  contempt  for  your  refusal  to  answer  those  questions? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  you  were  prosecuted  and  tried  in  the  Federal 
courts  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  you  were  acquitted? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  have  now  been  subpenaed  to  appear  again 
before  this  committee.     That  is  correct,  is  it? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct,  sir. 


COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  6 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Arc  you  willin<2;  now  to  cooperate  with  the  com- 
inittee  and  tell  the  eoniniittee  all  you  know  about  Commuiiist  activities 
in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  K.vwANO.  That  is  correct.  Tn  fact,  T  asked  for  this  opportunity 
to  be  heard.  I  think  it  is  ])roper  for  me  to  here  say  that  even  at  the 
time  I  testified  in  1950,  1  wanted  to  testify,  but  because  of  some 
reasons  I  decided  not  to  go  ahead  with  it. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Why  is  it  that  you  refused  to  testify  when  you 
were  called  before  the  subcommittee  in  session  in  Hawaii,  and  that 
you  are  now  willing  to  testify? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  there  have  been  many  reasons,  but  the  major 
reasons  why  I  refused  to  testify  at  that  time  I  think  could  be  illustrated 
fairly  well  in  that  letter  I  sent  to  the  ILWU  convention  that  was  lu4d 
early  this  year. 

Air.  Tavenner.  Are  you  referring  to  the  letter  of  April  5,  1951, 
addressed  to  the  convention  delegates  to  the  ILWX^  convention? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Wliere  was  that  convention  held? 

Mr.  Kawano.  H  was  held  in  Honolulu. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  hand  you  an  alleged  copy  of  the  letter  and  ask 
if  it  is  the  letter  you  refer  to? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  This  is  a  true  copy  of  the  letter  I  sent  to  the 
convention  delegates. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  hke  to  read  the  letter  into 
the  record.     [Reading:] 

Honolulu,  T.  H.,  April  5,  1951. 
To  Convention  Delegates. 

Ninth  Biennial  ILWU  Convention. 

Honolulu.  T.  H.: 

Dear  Friends:  Allow  me  to  take  this  opportunity  to  extend  my  "Aloha"  to 
you  convention  delegates.  I  sincerely  hope  that  your  convention  will  be  success- 
ful, and  will  result  in  further  strengthening  the  ILWU. 

I  believe  one  of  the  problems  facing  this  convention  is  to  clarify  the  policy 
of  the  ILWU  with  regard  to  the  right  of  the  individual  to  testify  or  not  to  testify 
before  Un-American  Activity  Committees. 

I  wanted  to  testify  at  the  last  hearing,  but  I  was  advised  by  the  officers  of  the 
ILWU  including  its  attorney  not  to  testify,  so  I  followed  their  advice  and  did 
not  testify  before  the  Un-American  Activities  Committee  hearing. 

Later  t  realized  that  I  made  a  mistake.  My  thinking  here  is  based  on  two 
points ; 

1.  In  view  of  the  world  situation,  where  our  country  is  at  war  with  com- 
munist forces  in  Korea,  I  cannot  see  myself  assisting  Communists  or  com- 
muni'^m  in  anv  wav,  particularly  when  you  consider  them  to  be  enemies  of 
our  country.  "Therefore,  I  feel  I  owe  it  to  my  country  to  bring  to  light  all 
I  know  about  Communist  activities  in  Hawaii. 

2.  While  I  participated  as  a  Communist  in  the  ILWU,  predetermining  its 
policies  from  time  to  time,  I  realized  that  each  time  I  engaged  in  such  activities, 
I  was  undermining,  and  violating  the  policies  and  principles  set  forth  in  the 
constitiUion  of  the  ILWU  as  clarified  by  resolution  No.  11  adopted  on  Jan- 
uarv  27,  1951,  attached  to  the  resolution  on  Red-baiting,  entitled  "Statement 
of  Principles  Adopted  at  the  Territorial  Sugar  Unitv  Conference  Held  in 
Hilo,  Hawaii,  January  3,  4,  5,  1948."  The  third  paragraph  of  the  statement 
reads  as  follows: 

"The  ILWU  is  governed  by  the  principles  and  policies  formulated  through 

the  democrati''  machinery  of  tl^e  union.  '   No   political  party,   Connnunist, 

Reijublican,    Democratic,   or  other,   and   no  racial  or  religious  group,  shall 

determine  our  policies." 

Around  the  latter  part  of  July,  or  early  August  1950,  when  the  Un-America,n 

Activities  Committee  investigator  came  back  to  Hawaii,  I  wanted  to  testify  in 

order  to  clear  myself,  both  with  my  country  and  also  with  the  union.     I  told 

regional  director  Jack  Hall  of  my  opinion  and  intentions. 


4  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

However,  he  made  it  very  clear  to  me  that  if  I  testified  I  would  be  regarded 
as  a  union  breaker,  also  that  I  would  be  regarded  as  a  rat  by  the  entire  member- 
ship of  the  ILWU  and  that  my  name  would  he  mud  from  that  time  on. 

I  told  him  that  by  testifying  I  would  be  helping  the  union  because  through  it 
I  would  be  able  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  ILWU  those  that  are  predeter- 
mining policy  of  the  union  and  that  therefore  are  violating  the  principles  and 
policies  of  the  ILWU  as  set  forth  in  its  constitution.  Therefore  I  considered  it 
my  duty  to  bring  this  to  the  attention  of  the  union.  Hall  insisted  that  that  was 
ratting.  I  disagreed  with  liim  and  gave  the  following  example  as  an  argument. 
"If  my  union  is  out  on  strike,  and  I  knew  of  some  of  the  members  scabbing  on 
our  strike,  I  certainly  would  consider  it  my  duty  to  bring  this  to  the  attention 
of  the  striking  membership,  and  by  doing  that  I  do  not  consider  myself  a  rat. 
On  the  contrary,  I  would  consider  myself  a  good  union  member  by  bringing  it 
to  the  attention  of  the  union.  And  the  same  thing  goes  when  someone  or  a 
group  of  individuals  is  violating  the  constitution  of  the  union." 

I  had  similar  conversations  not  only  Mith  Hall,  but  also  with  McElrath  and 
Arena.  But  they  all  ended  up  the  same  way,  "You  will  break  the  union,  we  will 
call  you  a  rat  in  the  ILWU,  and  your  name  will  be  mud." 

So  that  time  again  I  did  not  testify. 

At  that  same  time  Hall  offered  me  a  Job  with  the  ILWU.  I  told  him  that  I 
would  gladly  accept  the  job  provided  he  agreed  to  allow  me  two  privileges: 

1.  That  I  be  allowed  to  testify. 

2.  That  I  don't  have  to  take  "dictation  from  the  Communist  Party. 
The  offer  was  v/ithdrawn  promptly. 

As  time  went  on  I  became  more  and  more  convinced  that  I  did  wrong  by  not 
testifying,  and  so  on  February  10,  1951,  I  made  my  position  clear  to  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Union  and  to  the  public.  A  copy  of  that  statement  is  attached 
herewith. 

And  that  was  a  press  release,  Mr.  Cb airman,  and  I  would  like  to 
introduce  that  press  release  in  evidence  upon  the  completion  of  the 
reading  of  this  letter.     [Continuing  reading:] 

Although  I  am  not  a  member  of  the  ILWU  at  this  time,  I  am  still  a  union 
man  at  heart.  Any  man  who  gives  15  of  his  best  years  to  the  labor  movement, 
7  of  which  spent  organizing  without  compensation  while  being  unemployed, 
cannot  simply  wipe  off  his  memories  and  union  habits  and  sentiments  overnight. 

Therefore,  I  am  verj'  much  interested  in  the  policy  of  the  ILWU. 

There  is  no  question  that  the  ILWU's  policy  is  to  support  those  witnesses  who 
refused  to  testify  at  the  hearing. 

Is  it  also  the  policy  of  the  ILWU  to  guarantee  to  its  members  the  right  to 
testify  at  any  such  hearings  if  that  happens  to  be  their  convictions? 

For  the  benefit  of  the  membership  of  the  union,  and  in  order  to  further  strengthen 
the  ILWU,  I  feel  it  is  important  for  the  policy  of  the  ILWU  to  be  clarified  not 
only  for  the  benefit  of  the  Communists,  who  I  believe  have  a  right  to  belong  to 
the  union  as  long  as  they  do  not  violate  the  constitution  of  the  union,  but  also 
for  the  individuals  who  disagree  with  communism,  know  its  operation  in  the 
ILWU,  where  they  are  predetermining  policies  for  the  ILWU,  and  want  to  bring 
this  to  the  attention  of  the  membership,  but  cannot  do  this  because  the  policy 
of  the  ILWU  does  not  seem  to  support  them  in  their  position,  and  because  the 
officers  of  the  union  particularly  discourage  it. 

Therefore,  I  strongly  urge  that  the  ILWU  convention  go  on  record  guaranteeing 
the  right  of  the  individuals  to  follow  their  convictions,  be  it  refusing  or  not  re- 
fusing to  testify  before  any  committee,  governmental  or  union,  which  has  authority 
to  investigate  communism. 
Fraternally  yours, 

Jack  H.  Kawano. 

I  desire  now  to  offer  in  evidence  the  news  release  referred  to  in  the 
body  of  the  letter  which  I  have  just  read,  and  ask  that  it  be  marked 
''Kawano  exhibit  No.  1." 

Mr.  Walter.  Mark  it  and  let  it  be  received. 

(The  news  release  above  referred  to,  marked  "Kawano  exhibit  No. 
1"  and  received  in  evidence,  is  as  follows:) 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  5 

[News  release,  February  10,  1951] 

(By:  Jack  Kawano,  former  President  of  ILWU  Local  137) 

All  during  the  latter  part  of  1949  and  in  1950,  and  even  up  to  the  present  time, 
I  have  been  approached  on  many  occasions  by  members  of  the  ILWU  and  asked 
the  following  questions* 

1.  Are  you  an  organizer  for  the  CIO? 

2.  Are  j^ou  a  Conmuinist? 

3.  Have  you  ever  b(>en  a  Communist? 

These  questions  have  been  constantly  on  my  mind  because,  as  many  of  the 
ILWU  members  know,  I  pioneered  the  organization  of  the  Waterfront  Union 
which,  in  turn,  sparked  the  organizational  drive  among  workers  in  the  sugar  in- 
dustry, which  became  the  backlwne  of  the  ILWU  in  Hawaii.  Because  of  this 
I  knew  that  some  day  I  should  publicly  answer  these  questions. 

Now  that  the  contempt  case  against  me  is  cleared,  I  feel  I  am  able  to  make  my 
personal  position  clear  to  all  those  who  may  be  interested,  without  fear  of  in- 
timidation or  coercion  from  any  source. 

I  wish  all  to  know*  that  I  am  not  an  organizer  for  the  CIO. 

]My  position  is  that  in  the  event  anyone  tried  to  split  the  ILWU  by  raids  or 
otherwise  I  would  help  in  whatever  way  I  could  to  maintain  unity  within  the 
membership  of  the  ILWU. 

I  am  not  a  Communist.  However,  I  was  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party. 
I  joined  the  Communist  Party  because  some  individual  Communists  were  willing 
to  assist  me  in  organizing  the  Waterfront  LTnion.  The  w^ater-front  employers 
were  totalh^  intolerant  of  labor  unions.  They  did  all  they  could  to  smash  all 
attempts  to  organize  the  water  front.  No  civic  or  community  organizations 
showed  any  signs  of  willingness  to  assist  in  our  organizing  efforts.  I  did  not 
think  it  was  harmful  to  the  union  as  long  as  the  Communists  were  willing  to  assist 
me  in  bringing  up  the  living  standards  of  the  workingman  because  they  led  me  to 
believe  that  the  basic  existence  of  the  Communist  Party  was  primarily  to  pro- 
mote the  best  interests  of  the  workingman. 

I  decided  to  quit  the  Communist  Party  because  I  found  that  the  primary  exist- 
ence of  the  Communist  Party  was  not  for  the  best  interests  of  the  workingman 
but  to  dupe  the  members  of  the  union,  to  control  the  union,  and  to  use  the  union 
for  purposes  other  than  strictly  trade-union  matters. 

The  Communists  play  rings  around  the  rank  and  file  members  of  the  union  and 
their  union's  constitutions,  by  meeting  separately  and  secretlj'  among  themselves 
and  making  prior  decisions  on  ail  important  union  policy  matters,  such  as  the 
question  of  strikes,  election  of  officers,  ratification  of  union  agreements,  the  ques- 
tion of  American  foreign  policy,  and  all  other  important  matters  of  the  Union. 

Primarily  all  of  tiiese  decisions  are  made  on  the  basis  of  what  is  good  for  the 
Communist  Party  and  not  what  is  good  for  the  membership  of  the  union. 

For  instance,  in  the  election  of  officers  of  the  sugar  local  in  1946,  the  Com- 
munist Party  met  and  made  their  decision,  which  was  to  get  their  candidate 
elected  at  all  cost.  As  a  result  of  this  decision,  I  was  informed  that  the  Com- 
munists stuffed  the  ballot  box  on  behalf  of  their  candidate. 

Another  instance  was  the  proposed  sugar  strike  of  1949  at  the  time  when  the 
longshore  strike  was  on.  The  Communist  Party  had  met  and  made  a  decision 
to  pull  the  workers  in  the  sugar  industry  out  on  strike.  Had  they  been  able  to 
call  out  the  sugar  workers  on  strike  at  that  time,  when  the  longshoreman  were 
having  a  life-and-death  struggle  in  their  strike  against  the  water-front  employers, 
the  strike  for  both  the  longshoreman  and  the  sugar  workers  would  have  been 
smashed. 

There  is  no  real  local  autonomy  as  long  as  the  rank-and-file  members  allow  the 
Communist  Party,  through  the  few  Communists  in  their  union,  to  predetermine 
all  important  matters  on  union  policy  and  dominate  their  union. 

Today  I  am  more  than  ever  convinced  that  I  did  right  by  quitting  the  Com- 
munist Party,  for  in  view  of  the  international  situation,  when  our  boys  are  giving 
their  lives  to  their  country  which  is  at  war  with  Communist  Korea  and  China, 
I  caiHiot  help  but  believe  that  anyone  who  is  a  Communist  and  is  willing  to  assist 
Conununist  Korea,  China,  or  any  other  Communist  nation  today  is  dangerously 
flirting  with  treason  against  his  own  country. 

For  the  sake  of  the  union,  I  call  on  you  to  check  on  what  I  have  said.  It  is 
your  duty  to  investigate,  to  ask  pointed  questions  to  get  information.  When  you 
have  flone  so,  you  will  find  the  destructive  effects  of  communism  within  the  union. 
I  strongly  urge  the  rank-and-file  members  of  the  ILWLT,  every  one  of  them,  to  fight 
to  keep  the  control  and  the  management  of  their  union  and  union  activities  in 


6  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

the  hands  of  the  rank-and-file  members.  To  accomplish  this  important  task,  all 
Communists  and  those  who  follow  the  Communist  line  should  be  rejected  by  the 
rank-and-file  membership. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Mr.  Kawano,  what  disposition  was  made  of  this 
letter  which  you  delivered  to  the  convention  of  the  ILWU? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  from  what  I  understand — I  was  not  a  delegate 
so  I  was  not  present — but  from  what  I  understand,  getting  some  news 
from  the  newspapers  and  from  some  of  the  delegates  that  attended 
that  convention,  I  understand  that  Bridges  did  not  read  that  letter  to 
the  delegates  of  the  convention,  but  instead  notified  the  delegates  of 
the  convention  that  he  got  a  letter  from  me.  He  did  not  expose  the 
contents  of  the  letter,  but  stated  that  that  letter  was  not  worth 
reading  and  wasting  the  convention's  time  because  it  was  sent  to 
the  convention  by  a  man  he  called  "rat"  and  "traitor  to  the  working 
class"  and  so  on.  He  threw  it  in  the  wastebasket;  and  the  convention, 
I  believe,  supported  his  position. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  said  that  the  letter  was  delivered  to  the 
convention  by  a  person  to  whom  he  referred  as  "rat"? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.  Bridges  said  that  letter  was  sent  to  the  con- 
vention by  a  person  whom  he  considered  a  rat  and  a  traitor  to  the 
working  class. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Referring  to  the  writer  of  the  letter,  yourself? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Air.  Tavenner.  Is  the  Bridges  to  whom  you  referred  Harry 
Bridges? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct,  sir. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Are  you  well  acquainted  with  Harry  Bridges? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  have  loiown  him  for  several  years. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  hand  you  a  photograph  and  ask  you  whose  it  is? 

Mr.  Kawano.  It  is  a  photograph  of  Harry  Bridges,  sir. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  How  did  you  obtain  possession  of  it? 

Air.  Kawano.  This  I  got  from  him  sometime  in  September  1945 
on  my  way  home  from  attending  a  board  meeting  in  Washington, 
D.  C.  Exactly  where  he  gave  this  to  me,  I  don't  remember.  It 
might  have  been  in  Washington  or  in  San  Francisco,  but  I  take  it  as 
an  acknowledgment  on  his  part  recognizing  the  part  I  did  in  organizing 
the  labor  movement  in  the  Territory. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Is  there  a  note  in  his  own  hand^\Titing  on  the 
photograph? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  It  states  on  the  left-hand  side,  "To  Kawano, 
who  pioneered  in  leading  a  great  movement.  Harry  Bridges,  Sep- 
tember 1945." 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  was  Bridges'  connection  with  the  ILWU  at 
the  time  that  he  presented  his  photograph  to  you? 

Air.  Kawano.  His  position  at  that  time  was  president  of  the 
International  Longshoremen's  and  W^arehousemen's  Union,  and  I 
think  also  regional  director  for  Northern  California  CIO. 

Air.  Tavenner.  And  what  was  his  position  at  the  time  of  the  con- 
vention that  was  held  in  April  1951  in  Honolulu? 

Mr.  Kawano.  President  of  the  International  Longshoremen's  and 
Warehousemen's  Union,  independent. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Air.  Kawano,  you  stated  that  in  early  1934  you 
started  working  on  the  water  front  as  a  longshoreman  for  Alatson 
Navigation  Co. 


COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  7 

Mr.  Kawan'o.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  wish  you  would  bpoin  at  that  point  and  tell  the 
committee  in  your  own  way  and  in  your  own  words  what  you  know 
about  Communist  activities  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  and  during 
the  course  of  your  statement  I  will  probably  interrupt  you  a  number 
of  times  and  ask  you  questions  more  in  detail. 

Mr.  KawaiXo.  Yes.  I  tlunk,  though,  in  order  to  give  you  a  clear 
picture  of  the  beginning  of  communism  as  I  remember  it  on  the 
islands,  I  feel  it  necessary  to  go  back  a  few  years  and  start  from  the 
time  1  started  working  on  the  water  front,  the  conditions  that  existed, 
and  so  on;  so,  if  you  don't  mind,  I  would  like  to  do  that. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  That  will  be  satisfactory. 

Mr.  Kawano.  In  1934,  on  the  water  front,  when  I  was  first  em- 
ployed there,  there  was  no  union;  and  in  order  for  one  to  get  a  job  and 
l)e.  able  to  hold  on  to  it,  it  was  almost  an  impossibility  unless  he 
brought  gifts  and  bribes  to  his  foreman.  Discrimination,  favoritism, 
no  job  security,  low  wages,  speed-ups,  dangerous  working  conditions 
were  all  part  of  a  daily  routine.  The  workers'  need  for  a  union  was  so 
great  that  it  was  not  funny. 

In  October  1935,  when  the  West  Coast  Firemen's  Union  opened  a 
hiring  hall  in  Honolidu,  and  later  when  the  same  hiring  hall  was  shared 
by  the  Sailors'  Union  of  the  Pacific,  the  officers  of  both  the  Firemen's 
Union  and  the  Sailors'  Union  of  the  Pacific  paid  for  and  reserved  a 
small  space  in  the  same  hiring  hall  for  an  organizing  committee. 
This  organizing  committee  was  headed  by  Maxie  Weisbarth,  who  was 
then  agent  for  the  Sailors'  Union  of  the  Pacific,  and  Harry  Kealoha,  a 
member  of  the  Marine  Fireman,  Oilers,  and  Water  Tenders  Union  at 
that  time. 

The  first  organizing  drive  among  longshoremen  was  launched  by 
Weisbarth  and  Kealoha,  aided  b}^  others  like  Charlie  Post,  and  so 
forth.  However,  I  did  not  join  the  union  at  that  time  because  they 
did  not  permit  workers  of  oriental  descent  to  become  members  of  that 
organization. 

I  joined  the  Longshoremen's  Association  of  Honolulu  in  November 
1935,  when  the  organizers  changed  their  policy  and  made  it  possible 
for  workers  of  oriental  extraction  to  become  members  of  the  union. 

Several  organizational  meetings  were  called,  and  they  w^ere  fairly 
well  attended.  However,  then*  efforts  in  organizing  was  defeated 
W'hen  the  w^ater-front  employers  offered  Thanksgiving  turkey  to  the 
workers  on  Christmas,  and  the  workers  w^ere  told  that  the  turkey  was 
a  present  to  them  from  the  company,  and  if  they  did  not  listen  to  the 
rachcal  agitators  from  Sailors'  Hall  they  would  be  getting  better  things 
from  the  company  in  the  future. 

I  was  one  of  the  few  who  ignored  the  company's  advice,  and  con- 
tinued my  membership  in  the  union  until  I  got  fired  in  1936.  I  was 
not  fired  long  before  I  talked  my  way  back  on  the  job.  When  I  was 
reemployed,  I  got  fired  again  because  the  company  found  that  I  did 
not  quit  the  union.  This  time  I  was  fired  until  the  end  of  the  1936-37 
Pacific  coast  maritime  strike,  which  ended  in  February  1937. 

At  the  end  of  that  strike,  with  the  aid  of  some  members  of  the 
sailors'  union  and  the  firemen's  union,  I  managed  to  get  my  job  on 
the  water  front  back  again. 


86378—51 — pt.  4- 


8  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

So  I  went  back  to  work  on  the  water  front  in  early  February  1937. 
However,  because  I  could  not  get  transferred  to  my  former  sugar 
gang,  I  left  the  water-front  job  in  July  1937  to  work  full  time  as  a 
water-front  organizer  for  the  union  without  pay. 

Organizing  in  those  days  was  very  difficult.  I  used  to  talk  to 
workers  on  then  way  to  and  from  work;  visited  them  at  their  homes 
and  talked  to  them;  signed  up  and  collected  dues  from  some  of  them; 
but  because  we  were  not  able  to  show  any  encouraging  results,  these 
people  gradually  dropped  out  of  the|union. 

I  used  to  borrow  Willie  Crozier's  p.  a.  system  to  organize  mass 
meetings  along  the  water  front  in  the  mornings. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  ^Vhat  do  you  mean  by  ''p.  a.  system?" 

Mr.  Kawano.  Public-address  system.  I  used  to  make  leaflets 
and  distribute  them  among  workers  on  the  water  front  in  the  mornings 
and  afternoons. 

But  because  the  emplo3^ers  had  organized  a  company  union,  sports 
clubs,  and  so  forth,  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  workers  elsewhere, 
and  because  they  used  the  leaders  of  this  company  union  to  dis- 
criminate and  threaten  organizers  and  members  of  the  union,  and 
because  through  their  company  union  they  raised  the  wages  from  40 
to  50  cents  during  the  1936-37  strike,  we  were  never  able  to  get  the 
majority  of  the  employees  into  the  union  at  any  one  time  during  those 
days. 

This  situation  continued  from  1935  on  until  we  finally  got  organized 
and  won  our  first  agreement  on  the  water  front  in  the  spring  of  1941. 

There  were  many  enthusiastic  organizers  in  the  beginning,  but  as 
time  went  on,  and  no  organizational  results  showed,  these  organizers 
and  union  leaders  gradually  dropped  out  of  existence.  Some  of  these 
organizers  and  leaders  were  Maxie  Weisbarth,  Harry  Kealoha,  Ed- 
ward Berman,  Levi  Kealoha,  Jack  Hall,  to  mention  a  few.  However, 
Frederick  Kamahoahoa  and  I  kept  plugging  until  we  finally  organized 
the  water  front  with  the  aid  of  some  of  the  more  active  union  men  on 
the  water  front. 

Some  of  the  more  active  union  men  who  played  an  important  part 
in  assisting  us  organize  the  water  front  were  Takeshi  Yamanchi, 
Chuiiro  Hokama,  Kana  Shimiabakuro,  Naoji  Yokoyama,  Kiheji 
Nishi,  Daniel  Machado,  Jr.,  Francis  Perkins,  Ben  Kahaawinui.  Lefty 
Chang,  William  Halm,  William  Piilani,  John  Akiu,  Solomon  Niheu, 
and  a  few  others. 

Wliile  we  were  organizing,  there  was  a  strike  of  sugar  workers  on 
the  Puunene  plantation  in  1937.  The  strike  lasted  for  2  to  3  months. 
When  the  strike  began,  Maxie  Weisbarth  sent  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Ben  wShear  from  Honolulu  to  assist  the  sugar  workers  in  their  strike 
and  to  help  them  along.  The  idea  was  to  try  to  get  them  to  join  the 
HLA,  Honolulu  Longshoremen's  Association. 

These  plantation  strikers  and  their  leaders  seemed  to  be  very 
interested,  but  because  we  were  not  able  to  give  them  any  substantial 
financial  assistance  the  strikers  decided  to  stay  independent  from 
HLA  and  did  not  affiliate  themselves  with  HLA,  Honolulu  Long- 
shoremen's Association. 

Just  about  the  same  time  the  longshoremen  in  Port  Allen,  Kauai, 
went  on  strike.  They  demanded  recognition  of  their  union,  adjust- 
ment of  grievances,  and  better  wages. 


COjMMUNIST   activities   in   HAWAII  9 

Ben  Shear,  who  was  at  that  time  in  Maui,  was  pulled  out  from 
Maui,  and  he,  together  with  George  Goto,  was  assigned  to  go  to  Kauai 
and  assist  the  strikers  in  Kauai.  Ben  Shear  and  George  Goto  did  a 
great  deal  in  building  up  the  strength  of  the  longshore  union  in  Port 
Allen  and  in  Ahukini. 

Meanwhile,  Bill  Bailey,  a  Communist,  was  sent  from  Honolulu  to 
Maui,  to  assist  the  strikers  there.  He  stayed  with  the  strikers  until 
the  strike  was  finally  settled  without  any  written  agreement,  and  as  a 
result  of  that  the  Plantation  Union  was  broken  after  the  end  of  the 
strike. 

NoAV  comes  my  first  Communist  meeting.  The  first  Communist 
meeting  that  I  attended  was  held,  I  believe,  in  the  room  on  Emma 
Street  near  Beretania  Street  occupied  by  William  Bailey. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Let  me  interrupt  you  there.  Will  you  tell  the 
committee  all  you  know  about  William.  Bailey? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  do  not  know  very  much  about  William  Bailey, 
but  he  was  the  first  man  that  I  recall  as  a  Communist.  I  saw  him 
when  he  came  to  Honolulu.  I  saw  him.  when  he  was  assigned  to  assist 
the  plantation  strikers  on  the  Island  of  Maui,  and  I  saw  him.  when  he 
came  back  from.  Maui.  It  was  when  he  came  back  from.  Maui  that 
I  saw  hmi.  in  his  room  on  Emma  Street,  where  several  people  came. 
Most  of  the  people  in  that  room,  were  seam.en.  Some  were  members 
of  the  Sailors'  Union  of  the  Pacific  and  some  were  members  of  the 
Marine  Firemen's  Union.  Bailey  was  a  member  of  the  Marine 
Firemen's  Union. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  How  long  had  Bailey  been  in  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  At  the  tim.e  I  m.et  him.  in  this  meeting,  he  was  in  the 
Territory  from  2.  to  3  months. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  what  part  of  the  United  States 
Bailey  came  from.? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  understood  he  came  from  the  west  coast,  but  he 
was  previously  from  the  east  coast,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  I  think. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  As  I  understood  it,  you  met  in  the  rooms  occupied 
bv  William  Bailey  as  vour  first  introduction  into  the  Communist 
Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  tell  us  how  you  happened  to  go  there  and 
what  occurred? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  I  was  escorted  to  this  m.eeting  by  Edward 
Berman,  who  was  at  that  time  a  nominal  organizational  head  of  the 
union  in  Honolulu.  At  this  meeting,  Bailey  gave  a  lecture  that 
lasted  anywhere  from  45  minutes  to  an  hour.  He  issued  us  member- 
ship cards  in  the  Travelers'  Club,  otherwise  known  as  a  Communist 
card.  He  told  us  that  as  long  as  we  carried  that  card  we  would  be 
respected  by  all  good  union  m.en  from  the  m.ainland,  and  we  could 
coimt  on  Harry  Bridges  to  help  us.  He  also  asked  us  to  volunteer  in 
the  Spanish  Loyalist  Army,  but  no  one  volunteered. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  stated  that  Edward  Berman  took  you  to  that 
meeting.  Had  he  talked  to  you  about  the  Communist  Party  at 
any  tim.e  prior  to  that  meeting? 

^Ir.  Kawano.  He  did  not.  All  he  did  was  tell  me  to  com.e  along 
with  him,  that  it  was  going  to  be  a  very  important  meeting  and  he 
wanted  me  to  be  there. 


10  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Had  any  of  the  other  persons  present  at  that  meet- 
ing talked  to  you  about  the  Communist  Party  before  that  evening? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Nobody  did,  sir. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  say  that  you  were  given  a  membership  card 
in  the  Travelers'  Club? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  explain  what  that  club  was? 

Mr.  Kawano.  From  what  I  understand,  that  was  a  membership 
book  signifying  that  you  are  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party.  I 
understood  there  is  a  slight  difference  between  those  people  who 
carry  a  Communist  Party  book  offshore  and  inshore.  In  this  case 
it  was  an  offshore  group,  and  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  belong  to 
one  unit,  because  seamen  travel  all  over  the  country,  so  to  make  them 
eligible  to  attend  meetings  wherever  they  go,  in  every  port,  they  have 
one  unified  card  system,  and  I  think  that  was  supposed  to  be  this 
Travelers'  card  system.  A  man  carrying  a  Travelers'  card  from  New 
York  would  be  eligible  to  attend  a  meeting  in  Honolulu,  and  vice 
versa. 

Mr.  Moulder.  That  is,  a  Communist  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  that  entitle  you  to  attend  meetings  in  ports 
other  than  the  United  States,  such  as  Canada  and  Mexico? 

Mr.  Kawano.  It  did  not  say.  The  card  definitely  stated  "Travel- 
ers' card,"  and  did  not  say  whether  it  had  privileges  outside  of  the 
United  vStates  or  not. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  But  it  did  constitute  membership  in  and  assign- 
ment to  a  group  of  the  Communist  Party  of  the  United  States? 

Mr.  Kawano.  To  the  water-front  section,  yes. 

Incidentally,  another  thing  about  this  fellow  Bailey,  I  think  it  was 
in  1937  or  1938  when  there  was  a  German  ship  in  New  York  Harbor — 
I  think  the  name  of  the  ship  was  the  Bremen — you  remember  some 
people  going  aboard  at  night  and  yanking  dovin  the  German  flag, 
some  kind  of  demonstration  in  New  York  Harbor;  this  fellow  Bailey 
was  one  of  those.  There  were  three  or  four  who  participated  in  that 
demonstration. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  stated  that  Bailey  gave  a  lecture  of  45  minutes 
to  an  hour.     Can  vou  recall  at  this  time  anvthing  that  he  told  vou? 

Mr.  Kawano.  It  is  really  hard  for  me  to  recall,  but  roughly,  the 
general  trend  of  thought  was  like  this — that  the  bosses  are  no  good; 
that  workers  can  live  without  the  bosses,  and  we  should  try  to  get 
rid  of  the  bosses  by  forming  an  organization  and  fighting  the  bosses, 
first  through  the  union  and  later  through  the  revolution,  or  something 
like  that. 

Mr.  Walter.  It  would  interest  you  to  know  that  recently  a  young 
Chinaman  testified  before  the  Committee  on  Immigration  and 
Naturalization,  and  told  exactly  the  same  storv  in  relating  what 
occurred  in  China  when  the  Communists  moved  in.  Then  when  the 
Communists  came  into  power,  the  owners  of  this  small  factory  where 
he  worked  were  murdered.  So  you  can  see  that  what  you  were  told 
about  the  bosses  being  bad  is  a  part  of  the  general  line  that  the 
Communists  employ. 

Mr.  Kawano.  For  instance,  he  explained  that  what  is  going  on  in 
Madrid,  Spain,  today  is  a  fine  example;  that  is  was  a  government 
constituted  by  the  people  of  Spain,  but  they  were  being  resisted  by  a 


COIMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  11 

biincli  of  capitalists.  And  lie  said  a  figlit  for  the  Tioyalist  government 
in  Spain  was  a  liiilit  for  the  working  class.  Me  finally  asked  if  anyone 
in  the  group  wanted  to  volunteer  in  the  Spanish  Ijoyalist  Army. 

Mr.  T.WENNER.  Then  it  appears  that  William  Bailey  was  recruit- 
ing both  for  the  Communist  Party  and  for  volunteers  for  the  war  in 
Spain? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  true.  I  think  everybody  signed  up  in  the 
Communist  Party  through  the  Travelers'  Club  who  attended  that 
meeting,  but.  nobody  volunteered  for  Loyalist  Spain. 

Mr.  Tavenxer.  Do  you  knoAv  the  names  of  any  other  persons  who 
signed  up  in  the  Communist  Party  at  that  meeting  other  than  your- 
self? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Edward  Berman.  James  Coolev  was  there,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sailors'  Union  of  the  Pacific.  \\  illiam  Bailey  was  there.. 
I  believe  Paul  Kalina,  a  member  of  the  sailors'  union,  was  there  at 
that  time.  And  I  think  Benjamin  Kahaawinui  was  there.  Those 
are  all  the  names  I  remember. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  In  your  explanation  of  the  situation  confronting 
the  union  organizers  at  the  time  that  you  joined  the  Communist 
Party,  you  mentioned  the  names  of  a  number  of  people.  I  would 
like  to  ask  you  if  you  found  out  at  any  later  time  whether  or  not  any 
of  those  people  were  members  of  the  Communist  Party.  For  in- 
stance, you  mentioned  Maxie  Weisbarth. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Maxie  Weisbarth,  to  my  loiowledge,  was  never  a 
member  of  the  Communist  Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Harry  Kealoha. 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  never  to  my  knowledge  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Charles  Post. 

Mr.  Kawano.  To  my  knowledge  he  was  never  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party. 
.    Mr.  Tavenner.  Levi  Kealoha. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Levi  Kealoha;  yes,  sir,  he  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  found  later  that  he  w^as  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Jack  Hall. 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Takeshi  Yamanchi. 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  not. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Chujiro  Hokama. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Kana  Shimiabakuro. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Naoji  Yokoyama. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Kiheji  Nishi. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Daniel  Machado,  Jr. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Francis  Perkins. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Ben  Kahaawinui. 

Ml-.  Kawano.  He  was. 


12  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Lefty  Chang. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  William  Halm. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  William  Piilani. 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was.  Incidentally,  that  William  Piilani  is  the 
William  Kamaka  who  testified  before  you. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  John  Akiu. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Solomon  Niheu. 

Mr.  Kaw^ano.  I  don't  recall.  This  boy  had  been  with  us  in  the 
early  stages,  but  about  1941  or  1940  he  bad  been  shifted  over  to  the 
Island  of  Molokai  because  he  contracted  lepros}^.  Today  he  is  in 
that  leprosy  settlement.  Personally  I  would  say  he  was  never  a 
member  of  the  Communist  Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Ben  Shear. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  to  my  knowledge. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  stated  that  Ed  Berman  brought  you  to  this 
meeting. 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  you  ever  talk  to  him  on  any  other  occasion 
regarding  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  whether  or  not  he  was  a  mem.ber  of 
the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party. 

Mr.  Walter.  How  long  had  he  lived  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  thmk  he  lived  there  from  about  1935  until  about 
the  end  of  1939.  Then  he  left  the  islands  in  the  latter  part  of  1939 
or  early  1940  and  came  back  around  the  middle  of  1946. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Jack  Kimoto  is  another  witness  subpenaed  before 
the  subsommittee  that  met  in  Hawaii.     Were  you  acquainted  with 


Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Tell  the  committee  how  and  when  you  first  became 
acquainted  with  Jack  Kimoto. 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  first  knew  him  when  he  was  introduced  to  me  by 
George  Goto.  Goto  told  me  that  Kimoto  was  a  very  good  uiterpreter 
of  the  Japanese-English  language,  and  could  help  me  a  great  deal  in 
my  union  work  as  far  as  propagandizing  among  the  Japanese  was 
concerned. 

He,  together  with  George  Goto,  spent  close  to  a  year  writing  all 
sorts  of  teafiets  for  me  to  be  distributed  among  the  Japanese  alien 
longshoremen  on  the  water  front.  However,  because  of  their  strong 
tendency  to  insert  Communist  ideas  into  the  leaflets,  their  organiza- 
tional propaganda  was  rejected  by  the  alien  Japanese  on  the  water 
front,  and  it  did  us  more  harm  "than  good.  Later  the  writing  of 
Japanese  leaflets  to  be  distributed  am_ong  alien  Japanese  was  done 
almost  exclusively  by  Mr.  Takeshi  Yam.anchi.  His  ideas  were  ac- 
cepted by  the  Japanese  aliens,  and  later  his  leaflets  played  a  major 
part  in  organizmg  the  men  on  the  water  front. 

In  early  1938  we  decided — — 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Just  a  moment.  Did  you  know  that  Kimoto  was 
a  member  of  the  Communist  Party  at  the  time  that  you  were  intro- 
duced to  him  by  George  Goto? 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  13 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  at  that  particular  time,  ])iit  Kimoto  as  a  matter 
of  fact  introduced  himself,  after  th(>  fu-st  irtroduction  by  Goto,  that 
he  was  sent  here  fi-om  the  mainland  as  a  party  organizer,  and  it  was 
liis  duty  to  see  that  the  party  people  got  together  and  started  forming 
organizations  in  the  Territory,  and  that  it  was  his  responsibility  to 
see  to  it  that  those  cells  were  organized. 

Mr.  Moulder.  When  vou  refer  to  party  you  mean  Communist 
Party? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  How  long  had  Kimoto  been  in  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii  before  he  told  you  this? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  very  long.  From  what  I  understand,  he  came 
back  to  the  islands  in  1938,  and  it  may  have  been  1  or  2  or  3  weeks 
after  he  came  back  that  he  told  me  that. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  anything  more  about  Kimoto's 
activities  at  that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  very  much. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  If  he  was  an  organizer,  what  did  he  do  as  organizer 
of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  think  at  that  time,  around  the  3^ear  1938  and  after 
that,  he  was  most  instrumental,  I  guess,  in  bringing  about  the  forma- 
tion of  a  group  of  these  people  who  carried  so-called  Travelers'  cards. 
Somehow  he  had  information  as  to  wdio  were  the  people  who  carried 
Travelers'  cards.  He  got  in  touch  with  them,  one  by  one,  and  was 
later  able  to  form  a  group,  mainly  of  water-front  people,  but  w^ith  a 
few  outsiders. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Was  that  his  purpose  in  getting  in  touch  with  you? 

Mr.  Kawana.  I  think  his  main  purpose  was  that,  and  was  to  assist 
me  in  organizing  the  water  front. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  mean  organizing  the  union,  or  organizing  the 
party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  In  this  case  organizing  the  union,  but  Kimoto's 
intention,  maybe,  was  that  while  assisting  me  in  organizing  the  union 
he  would  be  able  to  get  in  touch  with  a  lot  of  other  people  whom  he 
might  pass  his  judgment  on  as  good  prospective  recruits.  That  may 
have  been  the  basic  reason  whv  he  worked  with  me  so  close. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  George  Goto,  do  you  know  whether  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  All  right,  if  you  wih  proceed. 

Mr.  Kawano.  In  early  1938  we  decided  to  organize  the  sailors  and 
longshoremen.  This  was  because  many  seamen  and  longshoremen 
expressed  their  willingness  to  become  members  of  the  union.  So  we 
decided  to  organize  the  longshoremen  into  the  ILWU  and  the  seamen 
into  the  IBU;  that  is,  the  longslioremen  into  the  International  Long- 
shoremen's and  Warehousemen's  Union,  and  the  seamen  into  the 
Inland  Boatmen's  Union. 

Herman  and  Hall  led  the  organizing  drives  among  the  sailors,  and 
we  took  over  the  organizational  work  among  the  longshoremen. 

Mr.  Tavenner.   Is  Hall  the  same  person  as  Jack  Hall? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct,  sir. 

We  got  them  organized  in  a  few  weeks,  and  started  negotiations 
with  the  employers  for  recognition  of  our  union.  However,  we  did 
not  reach  first  base,  and  therefore  we  pulled  the  seamen  and  long- 


14  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

shoremen  out  on  a  joint  strike  in  the  summer  of  1938.  It  was  supposed 
to  be  a  joint  strike  between  the  IBU  and  the  ILWU,  and  the  verbal 
understanding  between  the  two  unions  was:  "(1)  We  will  strike 
together;  (2)  we  will  settle  the  strike  together;  and  (3)  no  one,  IBU 
or  ILWU,  will  go  back  to  work  until  both  unions  have  negotiated  a 
satisfactory  settlement  with  the  employers." 

After  3  months  of  striking  and  particularly  after  the  Hilo  massacre, 
where  my  good  friend  Bert  Nakaiio  was  shot  up  and  crippled  for 
life,  some  of  the  seamen  lost  interest  in  the  strike  and  started  to 
individually  make  contacts  with  the  employers  and  started  a  back-to- 
work  movement. 

Berman  and  some  of  the  IBU  leaders  knew  this,  so  they  negotiated 
a  fast  settlement  for  the  members  of  the  IBU,  while  we  who  were 
leading  the  strike  of  the  longshoremen  wanted  to  continue  our  strike 
a  little  longer. 

One  day  after  negotiations  with  the  employers,  when  we  came  back 
to  the  union  hall,  to  our  disappointment  we  found  that  the  members  of 
the  IBU  had  already  met  and  voted  to  go  back  to  work,  and  they  were 
already  issuing  strike  clearances  to  their  members. 

We  raised  hell,  and  pleaded  with  them  to  hang  on  a  little  while 
longer  until  we  completed  negotiations  with  our  employers.  We 
asked  them  to  live  up  to  our  original  agreement  when  we  first  decided 
to  go  out  on  strike,  that  "No  one,  IBU  or  ILWU,  will  go  back  to  work 
until  both  unions  have  negotiated  a  satisfactory  settlement  with  the 
employers." 

But  it  did  not  do  us  any  good.  Berman  told  us  at  that  time  that 
the  boys  could  not  stay  another  minute  longer  on  strike,  and  if  they 
stayed  their  union  would  be  busted;  and  that  furthermore,  the  IBU 
were  the  majority  of  the  strikers,  and  therefore  they  had  the  right  to 
vote  us  down  in  the  joint  strike  meeting. 

There  was  nothing  else  for  us  to  do  but  get  in  touch  with  the 
employers  and  settle  for  whatever  they  were  wilhng  to  offer,  and  we 
settled  that  strike  on  that  basis.  Our  strike  was  completely  lost. 
Within  3  months  after  the  strike  we  lost  the  longshore  union,  and  the 
IBU  also  went  out  of  existence. 

All  during  these  days  we  were  attending  Communist  meetings  in 
different  parts  of  town.  We  often  met  at  the  office  of  the  Voic^  of 
Labor;  at  Bartlett's  home  in  Manoa;  at  Kakaako,  where  Hall  and 
Imori  used  to  occupy  the  same  house;  and  once  or  twice  in  Kuliouou 
Beach,  at  the  home  of  a  friend  of  Bartlett's. 

Mr.  Tavfnner.  That  was  the  period  from  the  time  when  you  first 
joined  the  Communist  Party  up  to  1939,  of  which  you  are  speaking? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  During  that  period  of  time,  did  you  hold  any 
official  position  in  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  During  that  time  I  was,  I  think,  chairman  of  the 
water-front  section.  There  were  only  two  groups,  one  the  uptown 
group,  and  the  other  the  downtown  group.  The  uptown  group  was 
for  professional  people,  and  the  downtown  group  was  for  longshoremen 
and  so  forth.  I  was  chairman  of  the  longshoremen  group,  or  down- 
town group. 

Mrr  Tavenner.  That  was  1939? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  was  1938  and  also  1939. 


COJVIiMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  15 

^^r.  Tavenner.  Can  you  give  us  some  idea  as  to  tho  membership 
of  the  down  town  ijroup  of  the  Communist  Party,  of  which  you  were 
the  chairman,  at  that  time,  1939? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  very  many;  I  think  about  7  or  8,  but  always  10 
to  15  attended.  The  ad(Utional  ones  above  the  7  or  8  were  by  inehid- 
ing  people  like  Jack  Hall,  M'hom  I  did  not  consider  a  longshoreman; 
Imori,  whom  I  did  not  consider  a  longshoreman;  James  Cooley,  whom 
I  did  not  consider  a  longshoreman;  and  John  Reinecke,  Dr.  John 
Reinecke,  whom  I  did  not  consid<^r  a  longshoreman. 

Mr.  Tavexxer.  Was  Dr.  John  Reinecke  a  member  of  the  down- 
town group? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.  He  was  a  member  of  the  uptowTi  group,  but 
he  often  would  come  sit  in  on  tiie  downtown  group  meetings. 

Mr.  Tavexner.  Can  you  give  us  the  names  of  any  of  the  other 
members  of  the  do^^^ltowll  group  at  that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  can't  recall  all,  but  I  will  try. 

Myself  first.  Frederick  Kamahoahoa;  John  Elias,  Jr.;  William 
Kamaka;  Ben  Kahaawmui.  There  might  have  been  two  or  three 
others,  but  I  can't  recall.  They  were  not  too  active  and  did  not 
continue  long  enough,  so  I  can't  recall  them.  But  these  were  active 
right  on  through. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  AYliat  was  the  principal  activity  of  this  Communist 
Party  group  up  until  1939? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Until  1939,  and  even  until  a  later  date,  when  the 
long-!iore";en  group  met  r.r.d  thry  wire  not  att?nded  by  ci:tsid?:-3 
like  Hall,  Remecke,  and  people  like  that,  when  the  longsaoremen 
alone  met,  the  subject  the}^  talked  about  was  how  to  organize,  how  to 
handle  grievances,  whom  to  recruit  in  the  union,  strictly  trade-union 
subjects. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  ^Aliat  group  are  you  speaking  of  when  you  say  the 
ILWTJ  group;  do  you  mean  the  union  members  or  the  Communists 
who  were  members  of  the  ILWU? 

Mr.  K.A.WANO.  I  am  talkijig  about  Communist  meetings  where  only 
members  of  the  ILWU  met,  not  including  those  outsiders.  When 
they  met  the  subjects  they  talked  about  were  trade-union  problems. 

Mr.  Velde.  You  mentioneil  that  you  often  met  at  the  office  of  the 
Voice  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  so. 

Mr.  Velde.  \ATiat  was  the  Voice  of  Labor.     Was  that  a  newspaper? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes,  the  Voice  of  Labor  was  a  newspaper,  supposed 
to  be,  on  the  surface,  an  independent  newspaper,  very  strongly  pro- 
labor.  It  professed  to  be  the  only  paper  that  spoke  in  behaif  of  the 
working  people,  but  it  was  not  supported  by  workingmen  but  was 
organized  and  instigated  by  Communists.  At  that  time  I  think 
Edward  Berman,  Jack  Hall,  and  James  Coole^^  were  the  three  or- 
ganizei-s,  and  Corb}'  Paxton — he  was  editor  of  the  National  Maritime 
Union  PiloJ  sometime  back,  a  tall,  skinny  fellow — he  w^as  also  one  of 
the  organizers  of  Voice  of  Labor. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  When  you  were  referring  to  Communist  Party 
meetings  of  members  of  the  Communist  Party  who  were  also  members 
of  the  ILWL",  3'ou  spoke  of  outsiders.  By  outsiders  you  meant 
members  of  other  groups  or  cells  of  the  Communist  Party? 


86378 — 51 — pt.  4- 


16  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  meant  members  of  the  uptown  group,  and  also 
members  of  our  group  we  did  not  consider  close  to  us  because  they 
were  not  longshoremen. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  But  they  were  all  members  of  the  Communist 
Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Walter.  Did  Hall  ever  work  as  a  longshoreman? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Never  did. 

Mr.  Walter.  Then  his  entire  activity  there  was  political? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  understand  he  made  two  or  three  trips  as  a  member 
of  the  sailors'  union,  and  was  in  the  strike  of  1936-37,  and  after  the 
strike  he  did  not  care  to  go  back  as  a  seaman. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  was  asking  about  the  activities  of  the  Communist 
Party  group  up  to  1939,  and  you  were  telling  us  about  the  discussion 
of  trade-union  problems  at  your  Commimist  Party  meetings.  Were 
there  any  particular  or  specific  matters  in  which  the  Communist  Party 
took  a  leading  part  and  influenced  the  union  at  that  time  in  carrying 
out  any  particular  project? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  that  I  can  remember.  During  those  days  their 
policy  to  me  was  not  too  clear,  except  I  had  the  feeling  they  were 
mainly  interested  in  helping  labor  unions  get  organized,  and  they  were 
doing  their  best  to  assist  people  to  form  unions.  As  far  as  their  policy 
was  concerned,  what  it  was  I  don't  know.  Maybe  they  were  concen- 
trating more  in  educating  people,  because  when  these  outsiders  came  to 
our  meetings,  the  subjects  they  brought  up  were  not  too  interesting. 
They  used  to  bring  up  things  like  economics,  and  things  like  that  that 
the  workingmen  usually  don't  care  for,  educational  things.  They 
wanted  us  to  do  a  lot  of  reading,  and  things  like  that.  The  fellows 
who  wanted  us  to  read  were  Kimoto  and  Ed  Berman  and  to  some 
extent  Jack  Hall.  Sometimes  they  used  to  send  guys  like  Reinecke 
and  Francis  Bartlett  to  our  group  to  give  lectures,  and  after  the  lec- 
tures to  sell  us  books  on  communism. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  All  right.     Proceed. 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  remember  one  of  the  topics  discussed  at  Kakaako, 
at  the  home  shared  by  Jack  Hall  and  Imori,  was  regarding  the  picket- 
ing of  ships  carrying  scrap  iron  to  Japan  from  the  west  coast.  This 
was  either  the  latter  part  of  1937  or  early  1938. 

Kenneth  Sano,  who  had  just  arrived  from  the  west  coast,  reported 
in  the  meeting  that  he  was  instructed  by  the  California  State  com- 
mittee of  the  Communist  Party  to  get  us  to  picket  the  Japanese  scrap- 
iron  ships  in  the  port  of  Honolulu. 

Those  present  were  John  Reinecke;  Kenneth  Sano;  Koichi  Imori; 
James  Cooley;  myself;  A.  Q.  Leong,  now  Mrs.  Bob  McElrath;  and  a 
couple  of  others  I  do  not  remember.  I  am  not  so  sure  whether 
Rachel  Saiki  was  at  that  meeting  or  not. 

The  group  decided  we  were  not  organized  well  enough  to  pull  the 
stunt,  so  we  did  not  go  ahead  with  it. 

In  the  Kuliouou  Beach  home  of  a  friend  of  Bartlett's  one  or  two 
meetings  were  held.  One  of  the  things  we  discussed  was  the  question 
of  Edward  Berman.  Berman  got  so  terribly  shaken  up  after  the 
strikes,  especially  after  the  IBU  folded  up,  that  the  group  felt  he  was 
totally  useless  and  would  be  a  bad  influence  on  other  Communists,  so 
the  group  at  this  meeting  decided  to  send  him  over  to  San  Francisco. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Wliat  kind  of  meeting  was  th's? 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  17 

Mr.  Kawano.  This  was  a  Communist  meeting  of  the  water-front 
section,  attended  also  by  some  individuals  belonging  to  the  uptown 
group. 

The  group  at  this  meeting  (h>cidod  to  send  Borraan  to  S;in  Francisco 
so  that  he  would  be  able  to  regain  his  self-control.  Kamahoahoa  and 
I  were  instructed  by  the  group  to  issue  Berman  a  membership  book 
in  the  IlvWlT,  and  to  give  him  a  visitor's  permit  from  Honolulu  so 
that  he  would  be  able  to  work  in  San  Francisco  as  a  longshoreman. 

We  did  that,  and  Berman  v/ent  to  San  Francisco.  After  a  few 
months  he  came  back  and  applied  for  a  transfer  into  the  San  Francisco 
local.  We  offered  him  that,  too,  and  never  heard  from  Berman  since 
that  time  until  the  1946  election  campaign. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Who  was  chairman  of  the  meeting  which  took  that 
action? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  was  chairman  of  that  meeting. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  who  was  chairman  of  the  meeting  that  was 
held  at  the  time  the  picketing  of  the  ships  was  discussed? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  recall.     It  may  have  been  John  Reinecke. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  At  the  time  you  held  this  meeting  relating  to 
Berman,  was  the  CommAmist  Party  organized  to  the  extent  of  having 
a  chairman,  secretary-treasurer,  and  so  forth? 

]\rr.  Kawano.  No.  At  that  time  the  group  just  got  together,  and 
from  time  to  time  the  group  just  nominat^-d  who  they  felt  shoidd  be 
chairman  of  that  pr.rticular  meeting.  So  it  was  very  logical  that  I 
could  be  chairman  of  one  meeting  and  I  could  not  be  chairman  of 
another  meeting,  but  usually  I  was  chairman  because  most  of  the 
guys  \vho  met  with  me  were  longshoremen. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  During  this  period  up  to  1939  how  was  the  collec- 
tion of  dues  handled? 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  collection  of  dues  in  the  early  part  was  done  by 
James  Cooley,  until  the  latter  part  of  1937  or  early  part  of  1938.  I 
think  it  was  around  the  middle  of  1938  or  latter  part  of  1938  when 
Kimoto  officially  set  up  this  group  and  set  up  the  olfices  of  secretary, 
educational  director,  and  so  on. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  So  Kimoto  was  the  one  who  set  up  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Commimist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  when  he  did  that? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  but  it  must  have  been  sometime  during  the 
middle  or  latter  part  of  1938.  If  you  check  back  on  William  Kamaka's 
testimony,  I  am  pretty  sure  he  stated  that  he  collected  dues  for  the 
group,  and  I  think  the  time  he  started  collecting  dues  for  the  group  is 
the  time  we  officially  started  paying  dues  into  that  group. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  3'ou  at  any  time  attend  a  Communist  Party 
school? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes,  I  did. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  state  the  circumstances  under  which  that 
occurred? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Ai'ound  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1938,  Jack 
Kimoto  urged  me  to  consider  going  to  San  Francisco  to  study  labor 
economics  at  one  of  the  special  schools  conducted  by  the  Communist 
Party  of  the  U.  S.  A.  in  Cahfornia.  ITe  told  me  that  it  was  only  a  5- 
vveek  course,  and  that  I  could  learn  a  lot,  and  I  would  be  able  to  do  a 
more  effective  job  of  organizing  after  1  returned  from  school. 


18  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

He  told  me  the  party  had  already  discussed  this  matter,  and  that  if 
I  agreed  to  go  the  Communist  Party  would  take  care  of  everything 
for  me,  including  making  money  available  for  my  famil,y's  support 
while  I  was  away. 

I  was  further  urged  by  Bartlett,  Reinecke,  Hall,  and  William 
Kamaka  to  go  and  not  to  worry  about  my  family. 

So  in  September  or  October  1938  I  went  over  and  attended  the 
5-week  Communist  training  school  in  San  Francisco.  The  address 
of  that  school  was  121  Haight  Street,  San  Francisco. 

Mr.  T.wENNER.  That  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Afr.  Kawano.  It  was  the  heack{uarters  of  the  Communist  Party 
at  that  time. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  At  that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

I  staj^ed  at  Karl  Yoneda's  apartment  on  Grove  Street  in  San 
Francisco,  and  walked  daily  from  there  to  the  school  at  Communist 
Party  headquarters,  located  at  that  time  at  121  Haight  Street. 

My  first  day  was  consumed  almost  entirely  by  lectures.  They 
issued  scratch  pads,  notebooks,  Communist  pamphlets,  and  so  on. 

Betty  Gannett,  chief  instructor  at  that  time,  told  me— not  only 
me,  but  the  group  of  students  there — that  the  Communist  Party  did 
not  expect  us  to  learn  all  about  communism  in  the  short  time  we 
attended  school,  but  she  said  that  she  expected  us  to  learn  how  to 
study  communism  and  how  to  put  the  Communist  theory  into  prac- 
tice, especially  in  th<'  labor  uriions  and  other  mass  organizations. 

There  were  over  60  students  present  at  that  time,  and  they  came 
from  all  over  the  countr}',  but  mainly  from  northern  and  southern 
California. 

Some  of  those  whose  names  I  recall  are  Bob  Guske;  Richard 
Lyndon,  who  is  now  one  of  the  top  officers  of  local  6,  ILWU. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  How  do  you  spell  his  last  name? 

Mr.  Kawano.  L-y-n-d-o-n,  And  a  boy  by  the  name  of  Alasao 
from  Los  Angeles  who  came  up  with  a  fellow  named  Fujii,  who  was 
editor  of  Do-Ho;  and  also  Allan  Yates. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  Allan  Yates'  wife's  name? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  Her  name  was  Oleta  O'Connor,  so  Oleta 
O'Connor  Yates  is  her  correct  name. 

Regubir  instructors  were  Betty  Gannett,  Oleta  O'Connor,  and 
Louise  Todd;  and  others  who  pitched  in  were  Jules  Carson,  William 
Schneiderman,  Walter  Lambert,  and  others. 

When  I  reached  Honolulu  after  the  school  was  over,  on  January  1, 
1939,  on  the  President  ClereUind,  the  union  had  just  lost  a  National 
Labor  Relations  Board  election  about  a  week  or  so  before  at  McCabe, 
and  the  boys  had  already  made  up  their  minds  to  close  the  door  of 
the  union  office  and  forget  about  the  union. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  When  you  refer  to  McCabe,  what  do  you  mean? 

Mr.  Kawano.  McCabe,  Hamilton  &  Renny  Stevedore  Co.,  Ltd., 
in  Honolulu. 

Wlien  a  group  of  the  boys  boarded  the  ship  as  a  reception  committee 
for  me,  they  so  informed  me,  Ben  Kahaawinui  and  William  Kamaka 
were  among  those  that  greeted  me. 

However,  to  my  surprise  I  saw  that  there  were  more  oeople  there 
that  night  than  the  actual  number  which  voted  for  the  union  in  the 
election  of  a  week  or  so  before. 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  19 

I  arranged  for  a  meeting  with  them  at  the  union  hall,  and  meantime 
talked  the  matter  over  with  Fred  Ivamahoahoa,  and  urged  him  to 
cont  inue  organizing.  Kamahoahoa  told  me  that  if  I  kept  on  organizing 
he  would  continue  to  assist  me. 

So  before  the  scheduled  date  of  the  meeting,  I  got  hold  of  Piilani, 
Kamahoahoa,  David  Kamaka,  John  Elias,  Joim  Akiu,  Samson 
Chang,  Robert  Naniole,  and  a  few  other  active  members  of  the  union 
and  lu-ged  them  to  assist  me  hi  organizing  the  water  front. 

They  agreed,  and  from  that  time  on  we  started  a  more  strenuous 
organizing  campaign  on  the  water  front.  Leaflets  began  to  flow 
down  the  water  front;  pier-hand  meetings  began  popping  up  along 
the  water  front  daily;  and  personal  contacts  during  the  evenings  by 
myself  and  to  some  extent  assisted  by  William  Halm  began  to  bear 
fruit.  The  boys  on  the  w^ater  front  began  to  believe  that  the  union 
was  O.  K..  and  that  they  wouldn't  mind  joining  the  union  if  the 
union  had  the  majority  of  the  workers  in  the  union,  and  if  it  could 
protect  them  from  discrimination  in  the  event  they  were  found  by 
the  bosses  to  be  members  of  the  union. 

We  knew  it  was  impossible  to  get  the  majority  of  them  into  the 
union,  so  instead  of  recruitmg  them  directly  into  the  union,  we 
combed  the  water  front  to  get  the  following  pledges: 

(1)  I  will  authorize  the  union  to  represent  me  on  all  matters  relating  to  wages, 
working  conditions,  etc. 

(2)  I  will  vote  for  the  union  in  the  event  of  a  NLRB  election  to  determine  the 
correct  collective-bargainin.^  representative. 

(3)  In  the  event  the  union  wins  the  election,  I  will  join  the  union,  pay  its  dues 
and  asse.ssments.  attend  its  meetings,  live  up  to  its  constitution  and  bylaws,  and 
become  a  good  union  member. 

Our  organizing  efforts  began  to  bear  fruit.  Longshoremen  began 
signing  pledge  cards,  more  tlian  they  ever  did  up  to  this  time. 

The  employers  noticed  we  were  making  headway,  and  they  started 
out  on  a  plan  to  crack  dovvai  on  the  workers. 

They  decided  to  institute  the  40-hour  plan  on  the  water  front. 
They  succeeded  in  getting  some  of  the  gangs  to  go  for  the  plan,  bub 
meanwhile  we  did  everything  we  could  to  expose  the  plan.  The 
employcu^s  were  unable  to  get  all  the  gangs  to  accept  the  40-hour  plan. 
Many  gangs  opposed  it. 

Finally  the  company  decided  to  shove  it  down  the  throats  of  the 
longshoremen,  and  one  day  the  company  posted  a  notice  on  the 
company's  bulletin  board  stating  that  whether  the  workers  liked  it 
or  not,  the  company  was  putting  the  40-hour  plan  into  effect  as  of  now. 

Meanwhile  we  kept  on  preaching  on  the  water  front  that  the 
40-hour  plan  was  chiseling  off  the  workers'  wages  from  them. 

After  a  couple  of  weeks  of  work  under  the  40-hour  plan,  the  boys 
found  ^ye  were  right;  then  they  started  to  sign  up  the  union  pledges 
more  willingly,  and  it  was  not  long  after  this  that  we  started  signing 
up  the  workers  at  McCabe  also.  Later  that  year  we  petitioned  the 
National  Labor  Relations  Board  for  an  election  that  determined  the 
ILWU  as  the  exclusive  collective-bargaining  representative  in  Castle 
&  Cooke;  AfcCabe;  and  later  also  in  Contractors'  Pacific  Naval  Air 
Base;  then  later  in  American  Stevedores,  Ltd. 

All  through  these  days  I  attended  Communist  Party  meetings  regu- 
larly until  we  were  ordered  to  disband  in  1941  after  Pearl  Harbor. 

Mr.  Tavexner.  Had  you  occupied  any  other  position  in  the  Com- 
munist Party  prior  to  1941  than  that  you  have  already  described? 


20  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Kawano.  No,  but  I  must  say  this  much,  that  prior  to  1941  there 
was  no  official  membership  in  the  executive  board,  but  Kimoto,  who 
was  acting  as  liaison  between  the  uptown  and  downtown  groups,  used 
to  be  chairman  of  a  group  that  met  once  in  a  while,  composed  of  in- 
dividuals selected  by  Kimoto,  from  either  of  these  groups,  uptown  or 
downtown. 

Mr.  Walter.  May  I  ask  when  the  NLRB  election  was  held  to 
which  you  referred? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  was  held  the  latter  part  of  1939. 

Mr.  Walter.   1939? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right,  the  one  that  was  lost. 

Mr.  Walter.  I  am  talking  about  the  one  at  which  it  was  deter- 
mined the  ILWU  was  exclusive  bargaining  agent. 

Mr.  Kawano.   1941. 

Mr,  Walter.  How  did  Hall  inuscle  his  way  in  the  union  then? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  not  in  the  union  then. 

Mr.  Walter.  He  was  not? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.     He  was  out  of  the  picture. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  meant  to  ask  you  another  question  about  the 
school  in  California.  Were  you  the  first  member  of  the  Communist 
Party  from  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  who  attended  that  school? 

Mr.  Kawano.  1  was  made  to  understand  I  was  the  first  one  who  at- 
tended that  school  from  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  who  else  attended  from  Hawaii  at  a 
later  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  following  year,  1939,  Ichiro  Izuka  and  Jack  Hall 
also  attended  a  Communist  Party  school  in  California.  They  went 
from  Honolulu.  Robert  McElrath  also  attended  the  school,  from 
California,  but  by  using  Hawaii's  credit. 

Mr.  Velde.  How  about  Freeman? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  not  in  the  picture  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  If  you  will  proceed,  please. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  very  long  after  December  7,  1941,  I  attended  a 
meeting.  This  is  the  one  I  am  talking  about,  not  a  branch  meeting, 
but  a  meeting  called  specially  by  the  liaison  man.  Jack  Kimoto. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  That  is  a  meeting  of  Communist  Party  members? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes,  a  few  from  uptown,  a  few  from  downtown, 
selected  by  Kimoto. 

At  this  meeting  we  discussed  an  order  from  the  Communist  Party 
headquarters  in  San  Francisco,  brought  by  couriers  Fitzgerald  and 
Walter  Stack,  both  members  of  the  Marine  Firemen,  Oilers,  and  Water 
Tenders  Union,  to  disband  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  and  dis- 
continue further  activities  of  the  Communist  Party  until  further  notice. 

Kimoto  and  Hall  objected,  and  argued  that  there  was  no  reason  for 
the  Communist  Party  in  Hawaii  to  disband,  especially  when  the 
Communist  Party  on  the  mainland  would  continue  to  operate. 

This  meeting  was  attended  by  Kimoto,  Hall,  Reinecke,  A.  Q.  Leong, 
Robert  McElrath,  Stack,  Fitgzerald,  and  myself. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  Fitzgerald's  first  name? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  remember  his  first  name.  I  know  he  made  a 
name  for  himself  when  they  had  this  organizing  drive,  I  believe  in 
1935,  on  the  west  coast,  in  Standard  Oil  tankers,  and  a  few  people  got 
in  jail  for  some  kind  of  thing  they  had  in  Modesto.  He  was  identified 
as  a  Modesto  boy  at  that  time.     That  is  about  all  I  knew  about  him. 


COJVIMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  21 

The  t2:roup  docidod  to  disbnncl  as  ordered,  but  they  also  made  it  clear 
that  they  disapi)r()ved  of  the  order,  and  that  they  appealed  their  case 
to  the  national  committee  of  the  Communist  Party  in  New  York  to 
have  the  San  Fi-ancisco  State  headquarters  order  to  disband  revoked. 
But  there  was  nothing:  done  by  the  national  office  in  New  York,  so 
there  were  no  official  activities  of  the  Communist  Party  in  Hawaii 
duruig  the  war. 

However,  occasionally  the  group  used  to  meet,  sometimes  at  Hall's 
place,  sometimes  at  Reinecke's,  sometimes  at  the  Fujimotos',  and 
sometimes  at  the  Hyuns',  and  at  the  McElraths'. 

Mr.  Moulder.  May  I  interrupt  at  this  point?  Do  you  have  any 
personal  knowledge  as  to  the  reason  they  were  requesting  the  Com- 
munist Party  in  Hawaii  to  disband  at  that  particular  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  According  to  the  information  brought  over  by  the 
couriers,  their  reason  was  that — you  see,  just  a  few  months  before  that 
the  Communist  Party  slogan  was  that  the  "Yanks  were  not  coming"  to 
this  war,  advocating  that  we  fight  the  idea  of  sending  soldiers  to  Europe 
to  fight.  But  after  Hitler  moved  into  Russia  in  June  of  1941,  then  they 
changed  their  tone. 

Anyhow,  when  this  message  was  brought,  they  stated  that  because 
Hawaii  was  such  an  important  outpost  for  defense  they  wanted  us  to 
cooperate  so  the  Army  and  Navy  would  have  no  suspicion  of  com- 
munism in  Hawaii.  That  is  why  they  told  us  they  didn't  want  us  to 
do  anything. 

Mr.  Walter.  We  will  have  to  take  a  recess  to  answer  the  c[uorum 
call.     We  will  recess  until  2  o'clock. 

(Thereupon,  at  12.:  10  p.  m.,  a  recess  was  taken  until  2  p.  m.  of  the 
same  day.) 

AFTERNOON    SESSION 

Mr.  Walter.  Proceed,  Mr.  Tavenner. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JACK  H.  KAWANO—Resumed 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  were  asked  a  question  about  the  reason  for 
the  Communist  Party  directive  that  the  Communist  Party  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii  be  disbanded.  Was  there  a  difi'erence  of  opinion 
among  the  leaders  in  Hawaii  on  that  subject? 

Mr.  Kaw.\no.  There  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  describe  that  to  the  committee? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Jack  Kimoto  and  Jack  Hall  argued  very  stren- 
uously with  these  two  couriers,  and  they  took  a  position  something 
■Jike  this,  that  they  didn't  see  any  reason  why  the  California  State 
committee  of  the  Communist  Party  should  instruct  the  Hawaii  Com- 
munist Party  to  disband,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  all  the 
other  Communist  Party  groups  on  the  mainland,  including  the  Cal- 
ifornia State  committee,  was  operating  full  blast  without  closing  down. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  argument,  then,  did  the  couriers  use  to 
combat  the  argument  of  Kimoto  and  Hall? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  they  in  the  beginning  stated  that  because 
Hawaii  was  a  very  important  defense  outpost,  and  because  they 
didn't  want  an}^  Army  or  Navy  or  Government  authorities  to  suspect 
that  there  was  going  to  be  any  retarding  or  sabotaging  of  defense 
programs,  they  felt  it  was  better  for  us  to  close  down.    But  there  was 


22  COMJMUNIST   ACTIVLTIES    IN    HAWAII 

argument  against  it  by  Hall  and  Kimoto,  and  they  finally  ended  up 
by  saying  after  all  it  was  a  decision  of  the  California  State  committee 
that  the  Hawaii  party  disband,  and  therefore  they  were  just  carrying 
out  that  order  from  the  California  State  committee  to  Hawaii. 

In  the  end  the  group  decided  to  go  along  with  that  order  from 
California.  In  the  meantime  they  thought  they  were  going  to  appeal 
the  case  to  New  York. 

Mr.  Walter.  Did  they  appeal  it  to  New  York? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  do  not  recall,  but  at  that  meeting  Kimoto  and 
Hall  definitely  stated  they  were  gomg  to  take  steps  to  appeal  that 
decision  to  New  York  and  have  it  repealed  by  New  York.  I  have  not 
heard  anything  about  the  matter  after  that. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  have  stated  -hat  t*  man  by  the  name  of  Stack 
was  one  of  the  two  couriers  wiio  brought  this  directive  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  his  first  name? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Walter. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Can  you  tell  the  committee  anvthing  about  Walter 
Stack?  ^ 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  know  very  much  about  him  except  when  I 
was  attending  that  5-week  training  course  in  California  he  was  an 
occasional  visitor  there,  and  from  what  I  laiew  he  was  at  that  time 
one  of  the  officers  of  the  firemen's  union.  He  used  to  run  for  the 
position  called  patrolman  on  the  water  front  for  that  union,  and  from 
what  I  recollect  he  had  been  running  for  that  office  as  a  Communist 
and  getting  elected  year  after  year. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  How  often  do  you  think  your  group  met  to  discuss 
this  question  of  disbanding  the  Communist  Party  in  Hawaii  during 
the  period  of  the  war? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  was  the  only  meeting  I  remember.  After  that 
I  think  Kimoto  took  it  upon  himself  to  notify  the  two  groups  that 
were  existmg  at  that  time  about  the  order,  and  that  is  all  that  I 
remember. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  W  hen  you  were  directed  to  disband  were  you  given 
any  orders  as  to  what  to  do  with  Communist  Party  literature? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  records? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  was  that? 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  instructions  were  that  we  were  to  gather  up  all 
Communist  Party  material,  everything  we  had  relating  to  the  Com- 
munist Party,  and  destroy  it  by  either  burning  it  or  burying  it. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  was  done  about  that? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  I  think  they  decided  to  send  instructions  down 
the  line  to  have  everybody  gather  his  material  and  burn  it  at  home, 
and  those  people  who  lived  in  communities  where  it  would  be  difficult 
for  them  to  burn  material,  to  gather  the  material  and  to  have  it  picked 
up  by  John  Remecke  or  Peter  Hyun,  and  they  would  haul  it  to  a  place 
M^here  nobody  would  know  and  bury  it. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Was  that  done? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Whether  that  was  done,  I  don't  know.  I  burned 
my  material,  so  I  didn't  pass  anything  on  to  these  people. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  whether  this  man  Walter  Stack  ever 
attended  a  school  in  Russia? 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  23 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  I  don't. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  state  to  the  committee  what  the  union 
activities  were  during  the  period  of  the  war? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Before  that  I  would  like  to  interject  just  a  little  bit. 

During  those  days,  after  the  party  in  Hawaii  was  ordered  to  disband 
and  the  party  disbanded,  there  were  no  official  Communist  Party 
meetuigs,  yet  occasionally  some  of  the  people  used  to  gather  at  some 
of  the  homes. 

It  was  one  of  these  unofficial  meetings  at  McElrath's  place  which 
prompted  Kimoto,  Izuka,  and  Alice  Hyun  to  go  to  the  former  Hyun 
farm  to  dig  up  some  Communist  literature  the  Hyuns  had  buried 
when  they  were  instructed  to  burn  or  destroy.  The  record  shows  that 
sometime  early  in  1945  they  were  caught  digging  Communist  literature 
by  agents  of  the  FBI. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  photographs  of  that  were  introduced  in  the 
coui-se  of  the  hearings  by  the  subcommittee  in  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  They  were. 

Late  in  1943  I  was  informed  by  Bert  Nakano  that  the  workers  in 
the  plantations  were  desperately  wanting  a  union,  and  that  the  few 
malihini — that  means  newcomers — AFL  organizers  operating  on  the 
big  island  were  making  some  progress  in  organizing  the  plantation 
workers  into  the  AFL,  and  that  because  they  were  splitting  up  the 
workers  m  various  craft  unions,  and  were  not  accepting  into  member- 
ship those  that  the  employers  considered  agricultural  workers,  they 
were  doing  more  harm  than  good  for  the  workers  in  the  plantations. 

Therefore,  he  urged  me  to  come  over  to  investigate  the  matter  and 
see  whether  there  was  something  we  could  do  for  the  boys  in  the 
plantations. 

So,  upon  this  invitation,  I  made  a  trip  to  the  big  island  to  check 
on  the  matter.  Being  a  former  big-island  boy,  also  a  plantation 
employee,  I  knew  a  few  plantations  and  the  people  in  the  plantations. 

I  visited  with  some  of  them,  talked  to  them,  and  decided  to  organize 
the  plantations.  Since  Hall  had  some  experience  in  the  McBricIe  and 
MakawiH  plantations  on  Kauai,  I  went  over  to  see  Hall  for  some 
pointers. 

Hall  laughed  at  me,  and  told  me  that  I  was  taking  on  the  impossible. 
He  said  that  if  there  was  anyone  in  the  Territory  who  could  organize 
the  plantations,  it  was  he  and  nobody  else,  meaning  Jack  Hall  and 
nobody  else.  And  he  said  it  was  impossible  to  organize  them^ 
especially  at  this  time. 

I  told  him  that  I  wasn't  fooling,  and  that  I  was  going  to  try  it 
anyhow.  It  was  then  that  he  advised  me  to  go  and  see  Arthur 
Rutledge  and  try  to  work  out  a  joint  organizing  committee.  I  asked 
him  whether  Arthur  Rutledge  could  be  trusted.  Hall  stated  that  he 
trusted  Rutledge  imphcitly. 

I  next  called  a  meeting  of  the  executive  board  of  the  ILWU,  and 
talked  the  members  into  approving  the  organizing  drive  in  the  planta- 
tions. They  approved.  Later  we  carried  this  program  into  the 
membership  meeting  and  got  approval  to  go  ahead  from  them  also. 

Then  I  made  another  trip  to  Hilo,  this  time  with  Rutledge.  We 
went  there  mainly  to  set  up  a  joint  AFL-CIO  organizing  committee.. 
His  bartenders'  union  and  our  longshore  union  were  to  put  in  the 
same  amount  of  money  in  a  joint  AFL-CIO  organizing  fund  to  start 

86.378 — 51 — i)t.  4 4 


24  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

the  ball  rolling.  However,  wlien  it  came  time  to  put  up  the  money 
Rutledge  reneged  and  pulled  out  of  the  deal. 

Meantime,  he  got  into  a  fight  with  Jack  Owens'  gang,  who  were 
organizing  the  big  island  plantations  separately,  and  so  both  Rutledge 
and  Owens'  boys  found  no  time  to  organize  in  the  plantations.  We 
were  forced  to  carry  the  burden  by  ourselves,  and  did  the  best  we 
could. 

The  job  our  longshore  organizing  committee  was  able  to  do  is 
today  a  matter  of  record.  Without  our  campaign  in  1944  there  might 
still  not  be  any  union  in  the  sugar  plantations  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  The  unions  in  the  sugar  plantations  were  organized 
separately  from  the  ILWU? 

Mr.  Kawano.  They  were  not  originally  organized  to  become  mem- 
bers of  the  ILWU.  I  might  tell  you  a  little  story  in  connection  with 
that.  As  I  stated,  I  went  to  see  Hall  for  some  pointers  in  organizing 
the  plantation  workers,  because  in  1938-39  Hall  and  Berman  and  a 
few  others,  Ben  Shear  and  so  on,  were  able  to  organize  a  couple 
plantations,  namely,  McBride,  and  to  some  extent  they  had  luck  in 
organizing  Makawili  plantation.  They  were  being  organized  into 
the  United  Canner}^,  Agricultural,  Textile,  and  Allied  Workers  of 
America,  not  at  that  time  part  of  the  CIO. 

In  this  new  organizing  drive  I  tried  to  get  UCATAWA  interested 
in  sending  an  investigator  to  check  on  it  and  see  if  they  were  willing 
to  spend  some  money,  but  UCATAWA  never  seemed  to  be  interested 
and  didn't  seem  to  care. 

We  tried  to  get  the  international  officers  of  the  ILWU  interested, 
namely.  Bridges  and  others,  but  they  were  never  interested,  and  it  was 
not  until  they  got  the  definite  news  that  we  were  signing  thousands  of 
plantation  workers  that  they  got  interested. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  In  other  words,  it  was  not  until  you  had  been 
successful  in  organizing  the  sugar  plantations  that  Bridges  took  an 
interest  in  havmg  the  sugar  plantation  workers  come  into  the  ILWU? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct.  I  might  say  that  the  original 
amount  of  money  put  in  the  organizmg  drive  was  not  too  m.uch,  but 
we  were  the  only  ones  that  put  it  in.  It  cost  us  approximately 
$8,000  to  start  the  ball  rolling.  That  came  from  the  local  long- 
shoremen alone. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  After  you  completed  the  organization  of  the  sugar 
plantations,  did  you  endeavor  to  get  them  m  some  union? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  but  just  before  we  started  this  drive  we  tried 
to  get  the  UCATAWA  to  become  interested  in  organizing,  but  they 
were  not.  I  might  also  state  that  when  Rutledge  and  I  went  to  the 
big  island  to  investigate  the  possibilities  of  organizing,  we  had  a 
gentlemen's  agreement,  or  whatever  you  might  call  it,  that  any- 
thing that  we  organized  on  the  waterfront  and  in  the  sugar  planta- 
tions we  would  recommend  them  to  join  the  CIO,  whether  ILWU  or 
anything  else;  but  that  anythmg  between  the  water  front  and  the 
sugar  plantations  would  be  part  of  the  AFL — it  didn't  make  any 
difference  to  us  if  it  was  carpenters'  union  or  anything  else.  That 
was  the  agreement  between  Rutledge  and  myself  at  first.  But 
Rutledge  reneged  on  the  deal  and  didn't  put  up  any  money,  and  got 
into  a  fight  with  Jack  Owens'  gang,  and  we  decided  to  do  the  organi- 
zational work  by  ourselves. 


COMMUNIST   ACTR^ITIES   IN   HAWAII  25 

Mr.  Tavejtner.  Give  us  a  little  more  in  detail  the  circumstances 
under  which  Bridircs  made  the  decision  finally  to  admit  the  sugar 
plantations  to  the  ILWU. 

Mr.  Kawano.  This  is  what  happened.  We  printed  pledge  cards. 
I  think  they  were  printed  under  the  name  of  our  local.  We  could 
not  use  the  name  of  the  international  because  up  to  that  time  the 
international  was  not  interested.  We  printed  thousands  of  pledge 
cards  under  the  name  of  our  local,  inviting  these  people  to  become 
members  of  our  local. 

We  signed  up  thousands  of  plantation  workers,  and  in  that  process 
we  signed  up  a  lot  of  other  workers  too,  mcluding  railroad  employees. 

After  we  got  them  signed,  I  made  a  special  call  to  San  Francisco 
and  talked  to  Bridges.  We  took  up  the  case  first  of  the  Hawaiian 
Consolidated  Railroad  employees.  We  had  about  150  signed  up.  I 
told  Bridges  that  here  we  had  a  bunch  of  railroad  workers  signed  up, 
that  they  were  already  part  of  this  union  as  far  as  the  records  were 
concerned,  but  I  asked  whether  he  approved  that  these  railroad 
workers  be  members  of  the  ILWU  or  not;  and  I  said  the  constitutions 
of  the  AFL  and  CIO  had  no  room  for  these  employees. 
,  He  said,  ''Well,  since  you  have,  got  them  signed  up,  we  will  take 
take  them  into  the  ILWU." 

Then  I  said,  "Will  you  take  the  sugar  workers  too  in  the  ILWU?" 

He  said,  "Well,  since  you  have  warehouses  in  sugar  plantations,  we 
will  take  them  also." 

Instead  of  these  people  signing  up  and  becoming  members  of 
longshoremen  locals,  each  plantation  was  given  a  special  local  num- 
ber and  chartered  by  Bridges,      :  ^(i;  . 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Were  the  pineapple  workers  organized  in  the 
same  way? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Somewhat  in  the  same  way,  but  also  in  a  different 
way.  After  we  signed  a  lot  of  these  people  in  the  union,  and  after 
we  turned  over  the  operation  to  the  international  to  administer  the 
work  of  these  many  locals  during  1944  when  they  engaged  Jack  HaU 
to  be  the  administrator  of  the  international's  business  in  the  islands, 
our  organizing  business  was  not  too  aggressive.  It  kind  of  slowed 
down. 

In  the  meantime.  Hall  and  these  other  people  were  advocating 
that  we  organize  the  pineapple  mdustry  also. 

Since  Rutledge  and  some  of  these  other  people  saw  the  work  done 
by  us  in  the  sugar  plantations  they  thought  they  might  as  well  try 
to  do  the  same  thing  in  the  pineapple  industry. 

From  what  I  recoUect,  the  pineapple  industry  was  organized 
originally  by  three  forces.  One  was  our  group.  I  think  we  had  the 
smallest  group,  25  percent  or  so.  Rutledge  had  30  or  35  percent 
organized.  Ajid  McEkath  had  about  40  percent.  He  had  the 
biggest  number. 

So  there  were  three  unions  organizing  the  pineapple  industry,  each 
claiming  jurisdiction  over  the  entire  pineapple  industry. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  what  were  those  unions? 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  Drydock  Workers  Union,  and  AFL  union. 
McElrath  was  the  head  of  it. 

The  bartenders'  union,  headed  by  Rutledge,  and  AFL  union;  and 
I  think  he  also  had  a  card  in  the  teamsters  union. 

And  the  ILWU. 


26  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

McElrath  had  the  largest  number  between  the  three,  but  because 
it  was  necessary  for  us  to  have  an  election  to  determine  the  correct 
bargaining  unit,  we  had  a  big  powwow.  First  we  had  a  powwow 
with  McElrath.  We  tried  to  get  him  to  relinquish  his  authority  to 
organize  the  pineapple  workers  into  the  small  drydock  union.  We 
didn't  get  anywhere  at  first.  Finally,  as  a  result  of  a  lot  of  pressure 
from  Communists,  who  said  he  was  splitting  up  the  labor  movement, 
and  so  on,  McElrath  decided  to  switch  the  affiliation  of  his  drydock 
union  from  AFL  to  CIO.  After  he  switched  to  CIO  there  was  no 
problem  at  all. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  The  CIO  would  then  outvote  Rutledge  and  his 
group  within  the  AFL? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Was  McElrath  known  to  you  to  be  a  member  of 
the  Communist  Party  at  that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  it  was  the  Communist  Party  that  brought 
McElrath 's  union  into  the  CIO? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  When  were  the  sugar  plantations  organized, 
about  what  year? 

Mr.  Kawano.  We  started  an  organizing  drive  in  January  1944, 
and  by  the  time  Jack  Hall  took  over  around  the  middle  of  1944,  we 
had  60  or  70  percent  of  the  sugar  plantations  completely  organized, 
and  we  had  organizing  campaigns  going  on  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
plantations. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  When  were  the  sugar  plantations  actually  taken 
into  the  ILWU  organization? 

Mr.  Kawano.  You  mean  the  transfer? 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Yes.  You  have  told  us  about  the  time  Bridges 
decided  to  take  over  the  sugar  plantations. 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  was  around  the  middle  of  1944,  when  they  put 
Jack  Hall  on  their  payroll. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Wlien  did  you  complete  the  organization  of  the 
pineapple  industry? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  think  that  took  place  about  2  years  afterward, 
about  1946,  a  year  and  a  half  or  so  afterward. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  In  addition  to  the  Communist  Party  being  instru- 
mental in  bringing  this  section  of  the  AFL  into  your  union,  what  other 
activities  was  the  Communist  Party  interested  in  in  the  labor  field? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  know  what  you  mean. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  We  had  evidence  in  our  hearings  relating  to  the 
labor  canteen. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  To  what  extent  was  the  Communist  Party  inter- 
ested in  the  organization  of  the  lal)or  canteen? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  can't  say  that  the  Communist  Party  itself  was 
interested,because  we  were  directed  to  disband,  and  the  labor  canteen 
was  formed  after  we  disbanded.  However,  as  I  stated  before,  there 
were  a  few  individuals,  who  were  members  of  the  Communist  Party, 
getting  together  informally  now  and  then. 

The  idea  of  starting  a  labor  canteen  was  introduced  by  Alice  Hyun. 
This  idea  was  picked  up  by  Hall,  Kimoto,  McElrath,  Reinecke,  and 
others.     Later   this  became   an   unofficial  Communist  program,   to 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  27 

orp:anize  the  labor  canteen.  They  also  instructed  the  officers  of  the 
union,  inchidino;  myself,  to  (1)  make  sizable  contributions  to  the  labor 
canteen;  (2)  iret  our  union  membership  fully  involved  in  the  activities 
of  the  Honolulu  labor  canteen. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Wlio  was  it  instructed  the  officers  of  the  union, 
includino;  yourself,  to  do  those  things? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Kimoto  and  Hall. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  what  connection  did  they  have  with  the 
Communist  Party  at  the  time  it  was  disbanded? 

Mr.  KAWA^o.  At  the  time  it  was  disbanded  Kimoto  was  party 
organizer. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  Jack  Hall? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No  official  title. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  But  Jack  Hall  was  a  member,  was  he  not? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  was  a  member;  that  is  right.  When  they  in- 
structed me  and  other  officers  of  the  union  to  do  those  things,  neither 
Kimoto  nor  Hall  had  any  title  because  the  party  was  disbanded;  but 
before  it  was  disbanded  Kimoto  was  party  organizer.  Jack  Hall  was 
regional  director  of  ILWU. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  tell  the  committee  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  Communist  Party  was  reactivated  in  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Just  before  or  right  after  VJ-day,  Kimoto  received 
a  message  from  the  Communist  Party  headquarters  in  San  Francisco 
to  reorganize  and  reactivate  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii. 

The  first  of  these  reactivation  meetings  was  held  on  the  grass  near 
the  apron  of  Kawalo  Basin.  This  is  just  about  the  same  place  we  met 
w^hen  we  discussed  the  question  of  disbanding. 

Mr.  Velde.  Were  you  instructed  by  the  couriers  originally  that 
this  was  to  be  a  permanent  disbandment? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No,  just  to  disband  operations  of  the  Communist 
Party,  don't  pay  dues  or  don't  do  anything  until  further  notice. 

At  this  first  ineetrng  Jack  Kimotoj  Jack  Hall,  John  Reinecke,  and 
two  or  three  others  were  present.  After  the  whole  gang  agreed  to 
comply  with  the  order.  Hall  and  Kimoto  suggested  that  we  go  through 
the  list  of  old  memberships  and  call  out  from  it  those  whom  we  thought 
were  all  right,  and  recruit  them  back  into  the  Communist  Party. 
They  suggested  also  that  since  the  union  was  bigger  now  and  had 
a  lot  more  members,  we  make  a  list  of  active  members  of  the  union 
and  recruit  as  many  of  them  as  possible  into  the  Communist  Party. 

Hall  and  Kimoto  suggested  that  we  hold  another  meeting,  this 
time  with  an  enlarged  committee. 

The  second  meeting  was  held  a  week  or  two  later,  with  the  following 
present:  Jack  Hall,  Jack  Kimoto,  Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto,  John 
Reinecke,  A.  Q.  A'IcElrath;  Robert  McElrath;  Rachel  Saiki,  myself, 
and  possibly  two  or  three  others. 

At  this  nieeting  we  decided  to  put  on  a  big  recruiting  drive.  Some 
of  the  possible  recruits  listed  w^ere  Harry  Shigemitsu;  Yoroku  Fukuda; 
Ricardo  Labez,  otherwise  known  as  Rick  Labez — 

Mr.  Tavenner.  May  I  interrupt  you  at  this  point?  Did  these 
people  subsequently  become  members  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Incidentally,  those  I  mentioned  so  far  I  understood 
were  approached  but  none  of  them  joined. 


28  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  think  you  should  state  that  as  you  give  their 
names.  If  they  did  not  come  into  the  Communist  Party,  make  it 
plain.  ■ 

Mr.  Kawano.  Y.  Morimoto  from  Kauai,  Yasuki  Arakaki  from 
big  island. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  those  two  come  into  the  party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  They  did. 
'    Bert  Nakano  from  big  island,  who  also  came  in. 

Carl  Fukumoto  from  big  island  came  in. 

Castner  Ogawa  and  Richard  Shigemitsu,  who  were  studying  com- 
munism under  Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto,  were  already  theoretical 
Communists. 

Major  Okada  came  in. 

Joseph  Kealalio  came  in. 

Levi  Kealoha  came  in. 

And  a  flock  of  others. 

At  that  meeting  we  also  discussed  ways  and  means  to  approach 
these  individuals  whose  names  were  hsted. 

We  decided  that  Communist  Party  members  should  volunteer  to 
talk  to  these  individuals  personally.  This  was  considered  best 
because  then  the  person  approached  could  not  turn  around  and  say, 
"This  guy  is  a  Communist  and  he  recruited  me."  He  could  not 
prove  it  because  it  would  be  one  man's  opinion  or  word  against 
another. 

We  decided  to  assign  able  Communists  to  talk  to  some  of  these 
possible  recruits  personally. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  In  selecting  the  method  to  approach  these  persons, 
such  as  the  method  by  which  it  would  be  one  man's  word  agamst 
other,  was  legal  advice  sought  on  that  subject? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.  That  was  something  that  Jack  Hall  and 
Kimoto  felt  was  a  pretty  good  method. 

Another  method  of  approach  was  to  get  the  mailing  addresses  from 
the  union  records.  Eileen  Fujimoto  was  office  secretary  of  the  union, 
and  it  was  felt  to  be  a  good  idea  to  have  her  go  tlu'ough  the  records 
of  the  union  and  get  the  names  of  possible  recruits  and  send  them 
Communist  literature  by  mail. 

Also,  after  we  sent  these  people  Communist  literature,  to  assign 
certain  Communist  Party  members  to  stick  around  them  and  lay 
low  for  any  comments,  and  report  to  the  party  organizer. 

Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto  were  assigned,  in  the  absence  of  a 
party  organizer,  to  contact  and  recruit  into  the  Communist  Party  all 
those  who  were  reported  to  be  ready  for  recruiting. 

As  a  result  of  this  concentrated  drive  many  old  faces  returned,  and 
many  new  members  were  recruited  into  the  party.  It  was  during 
this  time  that  I  talked  Joseph  Kealalio  into  joining  the  Communist 
Party,  and  he  joined.  I  talked  to  him  m  Ala-Moana  Park  near  the 
beach.  Joseph  Kealalio  is  the  one  presently  heading  the  longshoremen 
local  in  the  islands. 

Just  about  this  time  or  a  little  later,  I  remember  attending  another 
meeting,  this  time  at  the  Puunui  home  of  Ichiro  Izuka.  The  topics 
discussed  were:  (1)  reorganization  of  the  structure  of  the  Communist 
-Party  units  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  Communist  Party, 
U.S.A.;  (2)  discussion  of  the  Jacques  Duclos  article  against  Earl 
Browder  and  the  Communist  Party,  U.S.A. 


COMMUNIST   ACTWITIES   EST  HAWAII  29 

This  meeting  was  attended  by  Kimoto,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fujimoto, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McElrath,  Jack  Hall,  myself,  Izuka,  John  Elias,  John 
Reinecke,  and  there  may  have  been  a  few  others. 

At  this  meeting  Kimoto  stated  he  had  complete  faith  in  Earl 
Browder's  judgment,  and  that  he  was  a  smart  man  and  knew  what 
he  was  doing,  therefore  we  should  not  be  too  hasty  in  condemning 
him.  but  should  lay  low  and  see  how  the  matter  was  settled  nationally. 
Browder  lost  out. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  recall  that  back  on  the  mainland  the 
Communist  Political  Association  was  organized  in  May  1944  and 
continued  until  October  1945?  Are  you  acquainted  with  that  organ- 
ization? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  So  far  as  you  know,  the  Communist  Political 
Association  was  not  formed  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  it  was  not. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  But  when  you  began  reactivating,  you  began 
reactivating  as  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Velde.  Did  you  know  that  the  Duclos  letter  was  the  Com- 
munist Party  line  in'the  United  States  at  that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.  The  discussion  ran  this  way:  Duclos'  letter 
criticized  Browder's  position.  Duclos  pointed  out  some  of  the  pas- 
sages from  the  History  of  the  Communist  Party  of  the  Soviet  Union, 
which  stated  something  about  a  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat,  and 
according  to  Browder's  position  at  that  time  history  has  changed  now 
and  that  idea  is  out  of  the  window. 

Mr.  Velde.  What  is  puzzling  me,  some  members  at  this  meeting 
must  have  laiown  they  were  to  follow  the  Duclos  party  line? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  they  did  not. 

Mr.  Velde.  Then  it  seems  to  me  they  would  naturally  follow  the 
Browder  line. 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.  At  that  time  there  were  people  who  thought 
that  the  Duclos  letter  was  the  correct  party  hne,  and  some  thought 
Browder's  position  was  the  correct  party  line. 

Mr.  Velde.  This  was  before  the  American  Com.m.unists,  the  main- 
land Communists,  decided  to  follow  the  Duclos  letter? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Later,  when  Jim  Freem.an,  the  party  organizer,  was  sent  to  Hawaii 
from  San  Francisco,  Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto  were  assigned  to 
work  under  the  direction  of  Jim  Freeman. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  when  Jim  Freeman  was  sent  to  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Not  exactly.  I  «tliink  it  was  1947.  It  may  have 
been  the  latter  part  of  1946.     I  am  pretty  sure  he  was  there  in  1947. 

In  various  m.eetings  of  the  Communist  Party  we  found  we  ran  into 
a  lot  of  problem.s  because  we  signed  a  lot  of  people  in  the  Communist 
Party  who  had  no  idea  what  the  Communist  Party  meant,  and  we 
needed  som.ebody  to  educate  them  and  to  recruit  new  people  into  the 
part}^.  We  needed  a  good  live- wire  person  to  do  that  particular  work 
for  the  party  in  Hawaii.  We  requested  the  party  in  San  Francisco 
to  send  such  a  person,  and  the  party  sent  Freeman. 

After  Freeman's  arrival  the  party  stepped  up  its  activities  even 
tnore. 


30  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

Freeman  organized  the  first  Communist  Party  convention  that  was 
held  in  Kokokahi,  Kailua,  in  1946-47.  No;  I  remember  definitely 
that  the  first  convention  was  held  in  1946,  and  I  do  not  believe  Jim 
Freeman  was  there  at  that  time.  I  remember  it  was  1946  because  I 
was  elected  to  serve  on  the  executive  board  by  this  meeting  in  1946. 
So  that  statement  is  not  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  When  was  the  executive  committee  first  estab- 
lished? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Previously  there  had  been  a  semblance  of  an  execu- 
tive committee  operating.  Kimoto  had  been  selecting  a  few  from 
the  uptown  group  and  a  few  from  the  downtown  group  and  meeting 
with  them,  but  they  had  not  been  elected.  It  was  not  until  after 
this  convention  in  June  or  July  1946  that  there  were  official  members 
of  the  board. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  In  other  words,  there  were  no  persons  elected  to 
that  position  until  1946? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  you  were  elected  in  1946? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  As  I  recall  I  was  elected  in  1946  to  serve  in 
1946-47,  and  in  1947  I  was  voted  out,  and  in  1948  I  was  voted  in 
again  to  serve  from  1948  to  1949. 

Jim  Freeman  organized  various  sliindigs,  the  purpose  of  wliicli  was 
to  sell  Communist  literature,  to  recruit  new  members,  and  to  speed 
up  party  activities  in  fields  other  than  strictly  Communist  activities, 
such  as  pushing  subscriptions  for  the  People's  World;  pushing  sub- 
scriptions for  the  Honolulu  Record;  soliciting  funds  for  the  Reinecke 
hearings;  and,  a  little  later,  encouraging  membership  in  the  HCLC. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  That  is  the  Hawaii  Civil  Liberties  Committee? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Another  activity  was  introducing  certain  uptown  Communists  to 
Communists  in  the  ILWU,  and  so  on. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  state  at  this  time  the  names  of  all  per- 
sons who  served  on  the  executive  board  with  you? 

Mr.  Kawano.  In  the  first  group  there  were  Jack  Hall,  Jack  Kimoto, 
John  Reinecke,  A.  Q.  McElrath,  and  myself.  That  was  in  1946-47. 
I  believe  when  John  Reinecke  and  I  were  put  off  they  put  in  Jack 
Hall,  Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto,  Jim  Freeman,  Jack  Kimoto, 
Joseph  Palomino,  and  A.  Q.  McElrath.  At  first  there  were  five,  but 
later  on  they  made  it  eight. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  were  the  circumstances  under  which  you 
and  John  Reinecke  were  put  off  the  executive  board? 

Mr.  Kawano.  John  Reinecke  was  thought  not  to  have  the  guts  to 
represent  the  working  people.  I  was  thrown  out  because  they  claimed 
I  was  losing  interest  and  did  not  read  enough  Communist  literature 
to  serve  on  an  important  board  like  that. 

After  that  one  year  was  over,  in  the  summer  of  1948  they  had  an- 
other convention.  This  time  I  was  informed  by  Jack  Hall  that  I 
was  elevated  to  serve  on  the  executive  board  again.  That  was  the 
1948-49  term.  At  that  time  Jack  Hall  said  they  criticized  the 
previous  executive  board,  composed  of  Freeman  and  other  people, 
because  they  should  have  more  union  people  serving  on  the  Com- 
munist Party's  executive  board. 

From  what  I  understand,  at  that  time  Jack  Hall  was  again  a  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  board;  and  I  was  a  member  of  the  executive 


COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII  31 

board;  John  Reiiiocke  was  a  member  of  the  executive  board;  Charles 
and  Eileen  Fujimoto  were  members  of  the  executive  board;  Jack 
Kimoto  was  a  member;  and  Ariyoshi,  editor  of  the  Honoluki  Record. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  is  the  name  of  the  man  from  the  Honohdu 
Record? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Koji  Ariyoshi. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  position  did  he  hold? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  Editor  of  the  Honolulu  Record. 

Air.  Tavenner.  And  chief  stockholder? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  He  used  to  attend  the  University  of  Hawaii. 
Wliile  attendinj:!;  the  University  of  Hawaii  he  used  to  write  occasion- 
ally for  the  Honolulu  Star-Bulletin,  and  during  the  summer  he  used 
to  work  on  the  woter  front.  That  is  how  T  got  acquainted  with 
hiiu.     He  was  not  a  Communist  at  that  time. 

Later  he  joined  the  union,  and  after  he  joined  the  union  I  fixed 
it  so  that  he  would  be  able  to  work  on  the  water  front  during  the 
summer,  and  he  attended  a  journalism  school  somewhere  in  Georgia. 
Then  he  came  back  to  work  on  the  water  front  in  Frisco,  and  w^hile 
there  the  war  broke  out  and  he  was  hauled  in  to  Camp  Manzanar 
with  the  rest,  including  Carl  Yoneda.  He  was  one  of  those  people 
that  volunteered  in  the  Ai"my  and  later  was  sent  over  to  serve  in 
China,  and  from  what  I  imderstand  he  worked  as  a  liaison  officer 
between  the  United  States  Intelligence  Service  and  the  Chinese  Com- 
munists. And  also  a  well-known  Japanese  Communist  in  China  at 
that  time,  named  Tokuda. 

After  the  war  was  over  he  came  to  New  York  and  tried  to  write  a 
book  in  New  York.  By  the  time  he  came  back  to  New  York  we 
received  word  he  was  already  a  Communist.  We  heard  news  he  was 
a  Communist,  and  he  was  a  local  boy,  so  we  felt  he  would  be  a  logical 
guy  to  head  up  a  newspaper  that  the  Communist  Party  was  interested 
in  formulating.     That  is  liow  we  got  him  to  come  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  got  him  to  come  to  Hawaii  for  this  particular 
purpose? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavexner.  "'We"  means  who? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  Jack  Hall,  John  Reinecke,  Jack  Kimoto,  people  like 
that. 

Mr.  Tavexxer.  In  other  words.  Communists? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavexxer.  Do  you  know  who  wrote  him  to  come  over? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  know  who  wi'ote  the  invitation  for  him  to 
come  over,  but  he  had  always  been  in  constant  touch  with  Dr.  John 
Reinecke,  so  it  was  not  a  problem  for  somebody  in  this  group  to  com- 
municate with  him. 

Mr.  Tavexxer.  And  as  a  result  of  the  request  he  came  to  Hawaii? 

Mr.  K.\WAXo.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavexxer.  And  you  knew^  him  as  a  member  of  the  Communist 
Party  from  serving  on  the  executive  board  with  him? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavexxer.  Will  you  tell  the  committee  more  about  the  efl'orts 
of  the  Communist  Party  to  advance  its  cause  through  publications 
such  as  the  Honolulu  Record? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  Before  going  into  that,  I  would  like  to  go  into  the 
one  started  previous  to  that,  called  the  Hawaii  Star. 


32  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII 

Kimoto  presented  this  idea,  which  was  first  discussed  in  the  Com- 
munist Party  executive  board  meetings.  It  took  several  meetings  of 
the  executive  board  before  it  finally  decided  to  take  the  leading  role 
in  organizing  the  Hawaii  Star.  Hall,  Freeman,  McElrath,  Reinecke, 
Palomino,  and  the  rest  made  sure  that  the  control  of  the  paper  would 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  Communists,  so  that  the  paper  could  be  con- 
trolled by  the  Communist  Party. 

It  was  organized  in  early  1947.  Jack  Kimoto  was  president,  I  was 
vice  president,  and  a  man  named  Aroshiro  was  treasurer.  Jack 
Kimoto  and  I  were  the  two  from  the  Communist  set-up,  and  Aroshiro — 
he  was  an  alien — I  don't  know  where  he  came  from. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  do  not  know  whether  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  think  he  was  He  never  attended  any 
meetings. 

The  meeting  that  finally  decided  to  get  the  Hawaii  Star  into  opera- 
tion was  held  at  one  of  the  Quonset  hut  buildings  near  the  school 
street  entrance  of  the  Kalihiuka  Road. 

Those  who  were  present  at  that  initial  meeting  were  Jack  Kimoto; 
myself;  this  old  man  that  I  just  talked  about,  Aroshio,  and  his  son, 
Naeshiro;  Yasuki  Arakaki,  a  Communist;  Charles  and  Eileen  Fuji- 
mo  to;  Saburo  Fiijisaki,  Communist;  Carl  Fukumoto,  Communist; 
Robert  Kunimura,  Communist;  Y.  Morimoto,  Communist;  Bert 
Nakano,  I  think  at  that  time  a  Communist;  Castner  Ogawa;  Jack 
Osakoda,  he  was  not  a  Communist  at  that  time;  Major  Okada,  Com- 
munist; Jenji  Omuro;  Richard  Shigemitsu;  Shigeo  Takemoto,  I  am 
not  so  sure;  Thomas  Yagi,  Communist  at  that  time.  Most  of  these 
people  that  I  named  were  hustled  by  myself  to  attend  this  meeting. 
After  we  met  we  found  that  we  had  the  majority  of  the  stock  under 
our  control,  so  we  went  ahead  with  the  organization  of  the  Hawaii 
Star. 

At  a  meeting  held  one  night  at  Kapiolani  Paik,  close  to  the  band- 
stand, Kimoto  leported  the  progress  made  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Hawaii  Star,  who  its  officers  were,  and  so  on. 

The  board  decided  to  give  it  full  support.  They  instructed  us  to 
do  all  in  our  power  to  solicit  ads  and  subscriptions  for  the  Hawaii  Star. 
They  also  instructed  us  to  pass  resolutions  and  motions  in  our  union 
meetings,  commending  the  birth  of  this  really  progressive  newspaper, 
and  wherever  we  could,  to  make  sizable  contributions  to  it. 

As  a  result,  at  one  of  the  Territorial  ILWU  Council  meetings — I 
happened  to  be  chairman  of  that  council — the  Communist  members 
pushed  the  above  program,  and  this  meeting  ended  by  granting  a 
printing  press  that  was  osvned  by  the  Territorial  ILWU  Council  to  the 
Hawaii  Star  free  of  charge.  This  particular  motion  I  believe  was  made 
by  Robert  Mookini,  president  of  the  pineapple  union,  a  non-Com- 
munist. 

Mr.  Tavekner.  How  did  you  secure  Robert  Mookini,  a  non- 
Commmiist  to  sponsor  that? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Wli^n  Communists  p-ot  to":ether  and  talk  about  the 
Hawaii  Star,  they  talk  about  how  to  make  tiie  paper  as  much  as  pos- 
sible communistic.  But  when  we  go  in  a  union  meeting  we  don't 
speak  the  same  language.  We  speak  strictly  progressive.  That  is 
the  basis  on  which  we  got  Bob  Alookini  to  make  that  motion. 


COIMJMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  33^ 

After  a  few  months  of  operation,  a  lot  of  complaints  were  raised  by 
some  quarters  of  the  ILWU  membership  regardhig  the  Hawaii  Star. 
They  felt  that  they  were  paying  too  much  for  too  little,  and  tliat  if  we 
were  to  continue  support  of  such  a  paper,  its  Japanese  section  should 
be  discontinued,  and  it  should  be  turned  into  an  English-section,  bi- 
weekly newspaper. 

So  the  Communist  Party,  through  Kimoto,  tried  to  negotiate  with 
the  alien  Japanese  stockholders  to  turn  it  into  an  English-section  news- 
]ini)er,  but  instead  met  strong  opposition  by  them,  so  that  the  Com- 
munist Party  executive  board,  at  one  of  its  meetings,  decided  to  in- 
struct its  members  to  sell  out  their  Hawaii  Star  stock  and  transfer  it 
into  the  Honolulu  Record.  This  meeting  was  held  at  Joe  Palomino's 
house  in  1948. 

Then  came  the  Honolulu  Record.  The  first  issue  of  the  Honolulu 
Record  came  out  on  August  8,  1948.  Srmplo  copies  of  the  paper  were 
printed  about  July  1948.  This  time,  again,  the  party  instructed  its 
members  to  get  the  ILWU  behind  the  Honolulu  Record,  and  urge  the 
imion  to  buy  subscriptions  and  ads.  Every  cell  of  the  Communist 
Party  was  instructed  to  designate  someone  to  handle  the  ads  and  sub- 
scriptions in  the  union  for  both  the  People's  World  and  the  Honolulu 
Record.  Since  the  McCabe  and  the  Castle  &  Cooke  were  both  water- 
front cells,  we  designated  Richard  Shigemitsu  for  this  purpose. 

Koji  Ariyoshi  became  the  editor  of  this  paper.  He  was  assisted  by 
Jack  Kimoto  and  Charles  Fujimoto. 

As  they  did  with  the  Hawaii  Star,  the  Honolulu  Record  got  all  the 
help  from  the  ILWU  through  the  Communists  in  it.  However,  it  was 
a  lot  easier  to  hustle  subscriptions  and  ads  for  this  paper,  because  it 
was  not  concentrated  for  the  alien  Japanese  and  could  be  accepted  by 
all  who  read  the  English  language. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  other  activities  did  the  Communist  Party 
resort  to? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Politics.  Around  1946  Labor's  Political  Action 
Committee,  sometimes  called  ILWU  PAC,  was  organized.  It  was 
originated  first  in  the  executive  board  meetings  of  the  Communist 
Party.  It  started  out  by  involving  CIO,  AFL,  and  independent 
unions  participating.  They  also  allowed  any  individual  who  might 
want  to  participate  in  it  an  opportunity  to  do  so. 

They  set  up  a  machinery  to  endorse  candidates  and  campaign  for 
them,  and  they  set  up  legislative  committees,  organized  and  con- 
ducted rallies,  and  various  other  activities.  In  short,  it  was  the 
beginning  of  an  independent  third-party  movement  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  state  that  the  ILWU  Px\C  was  originated 
first  in  the  executive  board  meetings  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kaw^ano.  That  is  correct. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  would  like  to  know  the  names  of  the  executive 
board  members  who  took  part  in  the  formulation  of  that  organization. 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  think  it  was  mainly  Jack  Hall,  myself,  Kimoto, 
Reinecke,  and  possibly  McElrath.  I  am  not  so  sure.  Those  were 
the  ones  that  first  discussed  it.  Then  after  they  dicided  to  go  ahead 
with  it,  they  tried  to  involve  all  the  unions,  AFL  and  CIO,  to  start  the 
ball  rolling.  Labor's  PAC  was  not  CIO  PAC,  because  we  tried  to 
get  CIO  and  AFL  to  join,  and  we  called  it  Labor's  PAC  to  start  off, 
but  it  didn't  remain  that  long  because  of  conflict  between  Jack  Hall 
and  Rutiedge. 


34  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

In  the  election  campaign  of  1946  the  PAC  was  able  to  use  its  influ- 
ence, and  it  helped  to  elect  IS  of  the  30  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  They  didn't  make  so  good  in  the  Senate  and  other 
races,  however,  because  they  were  unable  to  maintain  harmonious 
working  relations,  particularly  between  the  AFL  and  the  ILWU,  and 
because  there  were  many  within  the  ILWU  who  preferred  to  play 
their  own  types  of  politics,  they  lost  control  of  the  situation. 

In  1947,  in  the  organization  of  the  Territorial  house  of  representa- 
tives, the  Republicans  took  over,  and. only  those  Democrats  who 
supported  the  Republicans  were  in  on  the  pie,  and  the  rest  of  the 
Democrats  were  left  holding  the  bag.  The  influence  of  the  PAC  dis- 
appeared when  the  house  was  organized. 

I  might  explain  here  that  when  the  PAC  campaign  went  over  to 
put  in  18  of  their  candidates  as  against  12  not  supported  by  PAC, 
that  seems  to  be  a  big  majority;  but  at  that  time  PAC  supported  both 
Democrats  and  Republicans,  so  among  the  18  w^ere  some  Democrats 
and  some  Republicans. 

Mr.  Velde.  Wliat  was  their  technique  in  supporting  candidates? 

Mr.  Kawano.  It  depended  on  the  deals  the  politicians  could  work 
out  with  the  officers,  myself  included,  and  what  kind  of  impression 
they  would  make  when  talking  to  the  general  membership. 

In  the  party  set-up,  there  were  15  Democrats  and  15  Republicans. 
So  both  parties  called  a  party  caucus  to  organize  the  house,  and  it  was 
impossible  for  either  of  those  parties  to  organize  the  house  as  they 
wanted,  so  some  compromise  was  made  by  Republicans  and  Democrats. 

When  the  house  was  organized,  committees  were  set  up,  and  there 
was  no  place  for  the  idea,  so  it  went  out  the  window. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  idea  went  out  the  window? 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  independent  political  action  movement. 

Mr.  Velde,  did  you  ask  me  some  of  the  methods  used  in  helping 
those  candidates? 

Mr.  Velde.  Yes,  some  of  the  general  ideas.  I  imagine  the  candi- 
dates not  supported  were  not  allowed  to  speak  at  your  meetings? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  they  were  not.  Those  w^e  supported,  we  passed 
cards  out  for  them;  we  had  election  workers  to  campaign  for  them  on 
election  day  around  the  booths;  we  had  people  going  from  door  to  door 
campaigning  for  them. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  use  the  word  "we." 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  bulk  of  the  job  was  done  by  PAC.  A  lot  of  the 
people  who  participated  in  PAC  had  no  idea  what  influence  the  Com- 
munist Party  had. 

Mr.  Veld'e.  Do  you  think  the  PAC  had  a  great  effect  on  the 
election? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  When  you  play  an  independent  role  you  are 
in  a  very  good  position  to  use  your  support  as  a  balance  of  power. 
Let's  say  there  is  a  race  between  this  gentleman  here  and  that  woman 
there  for  an  important  office.  Both  are  very  popular  and  very  strong. 
Mr.ybe  she  is  able  to  puii  half  a  million  votes,  and  he  might  be  able  to 
pull  about  the  same  amount.  In  a  case  like  that,  the  few  votes  we 
might  have  would  mean  the  election  or  defeat  of  a  candidate,  de- 
pending on  which  one  we  supported. 

In  1948  there  was  a  tremendous  amount  of  discussion  among  Com- 
munists regarding  the  failure  of  PAC  in  Territorial  politics,  and  in 
early  1948,  at  Jack  Hafl's  Manoa  home,  the  executive  board  of  the 


COMMI'NIST    ACTniTIES    IN    HAWAII  SS' 

Communist  Party  called  an  enlarged  committee  meeting  to  discuss 
the  question  of  politics. 

This  is  not  a  regular  executive  hoard  nuH-ting.  It  is  an  enlarged 
executive  hoard  meeting,  so  there  would  he  many  people  attending, 
and  theie  might  (>ven  I)e  a  few  non-Communists  attending.  Party 
members  felt  pretty  safe  in  having  non-Communists  come  in,  because 
the  subj(>ct  we  were  going  to  talk  about  was  only  on  politics. 

After  some  discussion  at  thai  nuH'ting,  it  was  observed — 

(1)  That  the  Democratic  Part}-  was  very  w^eak  and  could  l)e  in- 
fdt rated  verj"  easily. 

(2)  Vvith  enough  infiltration,  we  could  control  the  Democratic 
Party  of  Hawaii. 

(3)  In  the  organization  of  the  house  of  representatives  in  the  1947 
legislative  session  the  PAC  did  not  have  any  legal  rights  to  call  party 
caucuses  and  issue  directives  to  elected  candidates. 

(4)  But  we  could  do  this  if  we  controlled  the  Democratic  Party  of 
Hawaii. 

And  so  they  decided  that — 

(1)  The  Communist  Party,  through  the  ILWU  and  other  organ- 
izations, will  join  the  Democratic  Party. 

(2)  Take  over  leadership  of  it  by  getting  the  majority  of  convention 
delegates  elected  wdio  were  Communists,  Communist  sympathizers, 
or  at  least  union  men. 

(3)  Elect  majority  of  this  type  of  people. 

Mr.  Velde.  I  don't  want  to  appear  to  be  arguing  with  you  or  dis- 
cussing politics  at  great  length,  but  I  am  wondering,  since  the  Republi- 
cans were  in  powder,  whether  there  was  any  discussion  among  members 
of  the  Communist  Party  of  taking  over  the  Republican  Party?  If 
they  could  do  that,  then  they  w'ould  be  more  powerful. 

Mr.  Kawano.  ]\Iaybe  you  are  correct,  but  this  is  the  v/ay  the  Com- 
munists observed,  that  they  had  enough  votes  they  could  swing  either 
way.  Democratic  or  Republican,  and  looking  at  both,  the  Republicans 
were  hard  to  infiltrate  and  the  Democrats  could  very  easily  be  infil- 
trated, so  they  felt  that  moving  into  the  Democratic  Party  w^ould  be 
a  much  easier  job. 

Mr.  Velde.  There  was  no  attempt  to  infiltrate  in  the  Republican 
Partv? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  not  as  a  party  decision. 

The  enlarged  executive  board  meeting  in  Jack  Hall's  Manoa  home 
w^as  timed  when  the  general  executive  board  of  sugar,  pineapple,  mis- 
cellaneous, and  longshore  met  in  Honolulu. 

Of  those  who  met  at  Jack  Hall's  home  were  Jack  Hall,  David 
Thompson,  McEuen  ^ 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  other  position  did  McEuen  have? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Codirectoi-  of  Labor's  PAC. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  what  was  his  occupation? 

Mr.  Kawano.  His  professional  occupation  was  in  a  newspaper 
set-up.  [Continuing:]  Robert  McEliath,  radio  announcer,  ILWU 
program;  Mr.  and  ^Irs.  Chaiies  Fujimoto;  Myer  C.  Symonds,  attorney 
for  ILWL";  Robert  Kunimura,  from  the  island  of  Kauai;  Y.  Morimoto, 
from  the  island  of  Kauai;  Tony  Kunimura,  brother  of  Robert;  Peggy 

'  This  refers  to  Marshall  I.  MfEu'ii,  whose  testimony  which  was  taken  by  a  subcommittee  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Un-American  Activities  in  Honolulu,  'P.  IT.,  (>n  April  15,  1950,  ai)i)ears  in  Hearings  Regarding 
Coininunisi  Activities  in  the  Territorv  of  Hawaii— Part  2.  pp.  1(171-1676. 


;36  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII 

Uesugi,  working  for  ILWU  at  that  time;  Yiikio  Abe,  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  local  136  at  that  time;  Joe  Bliirr,  wlio  is  now  head  of  the 
longshoremen  local  in  Hawaii;  Fred  Kamahoahoa;  John  Elias,  Jr.; 
Taclashi  Ogawa;  Major  Okada;  Newton  Miyagi;  Edamatsu,  I  don't 
know  his  first  name;  Fujisaki;  Arakaki,  from  Big  Island;  Thomas  Yagi; 
Elias  Domingo,  from  Big  Island;  Henry  Epstein;  Wilfred  Oka — at  that 
time  he  was  not  employed,  but  w^as  working  for  the  Democratic  Party 
as  secretary  of  the  party. 

Eileen  and  Charles  Fujimoto.     I  named  them  before. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Was  Wilfred  Oka,  then  secretary  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  a  Communist  at  that  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  made  a  mistake.  He  was  secretary  of  the  Oahu 
County  committee  of  the  Democratic  Party,  and  he  was  a  Communist 
at  that  time. 

Kimoto;  Ariyoshi,  Joe  Palomino,  member  of  the  executive  board; 
Jim  Freeman;  Ernest  Arena,  executive  secretary,  miscellanoous  union; 
Eddie  Hong;  Ruth  and  Doris  Ozaki;  and  a  flock  of  others  I  cannot 
now  remember. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  go  back  over  the  list,  please,  and  state 
the  names  of  those  who  were  not  members  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Those  who  were  not  members? 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Yes.  As  I  understand,  this  was  not  a  meeting  of 
the  Communist  Part}^? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.     This  was  a  meeting  of  the  Cormnunist  Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  This  was  a  meeting  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes,  but  there  could  have  been  someone  attending 
that  meeting  who  did  not  suspect  it  to  be  a  meeting  of  the  Com- 
munist Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Will  you  go  back  over  the  list  and  designate  those 
who  were  not  members  of  the  Com.munist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  ^vfyer  C.  Symonds.  I  am  not  going  to  say  he  is  a 
Communist,  but  at  the  same  time  I  can't  say  he  is  not  a  Communist. 
I  have  no  evidence  to  prove  he  is  a  Communist. 

Plenry  Epstein.  I  have  no  evidence  to  prove  he  is  a  Communist, 
but  I  am  not  going  to  say  he  is  not  a  Communist. 

They  are  all  Communists  with  the  exception  of  Myer  C.  Symonds 
and  Henry  Epstein.     I  am  not  so  sure  whether  they  are  or  not. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  the  circumstances  under  which  these 
two  pei'sons,  who  are  not  known  to  you  to  be  members  of  the  Com- 
munist Party,  were  invited  to  this  Commimist  Party  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  They  were  invited,  I  believe,  oy  Jack  Hail. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Are  you  acquainted  with  Fcdrico  Lorenzo? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  know  him;  not  too  well. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  whether  or  not  he  was  present  at 
this  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  am  not  so  sui-e.     He  might  have  been. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  believe  you  stated  there  were  a  number  of  others 
there? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Whom  you  cannot  now  remember? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you"  recall  whether  Frank  Silva  was  present? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  recall.     I  don't  believe  he  was  there. 


COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  37 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  was  the  nature  of  the  business  conducted  at 
that  meeting;? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  'iliey  discussed  ways  and  means  of  taking  over  the 
Democratic  Party  of  Hawaii.  One  of  the  things  discussed  was  that 
attention  shouklbe  given  to  taking  over  the  leadership  of  the  pre- 
cincts, and  getting  elected  to  the  county  committee  and  the  Terri- 
torial central  committee,  and  being  elected  delegates  to  the  Demo- 
cratic convention. 

To  make  sure  that  this  program,  was  carried  out  in  the  most  effective 
manner,  a  political  commission  of  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii 
was  selected  at  one  of  the  executive  board  meetings  I  di(l  not  attend. 
This  political  commission  was  com.posed  of  Jam.es  Freem.an,  Jack 
Hall,  and  m.vself ;  and  later  changed  to  Jack  Hall,  myself,  and  Wilfred 
Oka. 

Tlie  change  between  Oka  and  Freeman  was  because  they  felt  that 
Wilfred  Oka  was  m.uch  closer  to  political  problem.s  than  was  Freeman, 
smce  he  was  doing  som.e  of  the  organizing  work  in  the  Democratic 
Party,  and  was  in  a  much  better  position  to  give  more  accurate  reports 
on  current  pohtical  problem.s  than  was  Freeman,  and  would  be  in 
better  position  to  m.ake  decisions  for  the  Com-munist  Party. 

Mr.  Tavexner.  Wilfred  Oka  was  secretary  of  the  Oahu  County 
Democratic  Conmiittee  at  the  time  of  the  hearings  of  the  subcommittee 
in  Hawaii,  was  he  not? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  No.  I  think  at  that  time  he  was  already  out.  By 
the  time  the  hearings  came  on,  I  tliink  he  was  already  out.  Tliis 
fellow  Danny  Inouye  took  Oka's  place. 

!Mr.  Tavexner.  Oka  had  been  elected,  however,  to  the  convention 
of  the  preceding  year? 

IVIr.  IvAWANC'Tliat  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  But  not  reelected  as  secretary  of  the  county 
committee? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  He  was  reelected  as  a  county  committee  m.em.ber 
from,  his  precinct,  but  he  did  not  get  enough  votes  in  the  county 
committee  to  be  reelected  as  secretary  of  the  county  committee. 

Through  the  m.achinery  of  the  ILWU,  m.aneuvered  by  Jack  Hall, 
I  was  assigned  to  tour  the  islands  to  sell  tliis  program  to  members  of 
the  ILWU,  particularly  in  places  where  the  m.emJjership  was  opposed. 

The  ILWU  election  propaganda  for  the  1948  elections  proved  that 
the  union,  \nth  very  slight  exceptions,  was  solidly  beliind  this  program. 

I  believe  that  the  influence  of  the  Com.munist  Party  in  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  of  Hawaii  is  very  strong,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  few 
liberals  in  the  Democratic  Party  who  are  strongly  anti-Communist 
but  at  the  same  tim.e  conmiand  the  respect  of  many  laboring  people 
and  union  members,  and  who  are  fighting  CommiUnists  in  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  the  Dem.ocratic  Party  of  Hawaii  would  be  controlled 
by  the  Com.munist  Party. 

These  few  liberals  are  having  a  tough  time  trying  to  ke?p  the  con- 
trol of  the  Democratic  Party  out  of  the  hands  of  people  who  are 
inliuenced  by  Communists. 

As  far  as  politics  goes,  although  originally,  to  get  the  ball  rolling, 
I  went  along  with  these  peo])le.  I  m.entioned  a  few  liberals;  I  joined 
these  people  and  pulled  enough  strings  to  get  Wilfred  Oka  rem.oved 
by  putting  up  a  better  candidate  and  defeating  him..     I  believe  that 


38  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IX    HAWAII 

the  split  between  Oka's  group  and  myself  was  well  known.     This 
happened  before  the  hearings  in  1950. 

In  a  meeting  at  Kimoto's  home,  the  party  discussed  the  selection 
of  delegates  to  the  CMU — Committee  for  JNIaritime  Unity — conven- 
tion. I  believe  this  was  in  1946,  right  after  the  war,  when  the  mari- 
time unions,  namely,  the  CIO  maritime  unions,  including  the  National 
Maritime  Union,  Marine  Cooks  and  Stewards,  and  1  believe  also 
Marine  Firemeii,  Oilers,  and  Water  Tenders,  got  together  and  tried  to 
work  out  a  method  of  approaching  the  employers  on  the  question  of 
negotiations  for  their  contract,  and  in  Hawaii  we  M^ere  supposed  to 
send  a  delegate  from  Honolulu  to  this  convention.  A  lot  of  people 
wanted  to  go  to  the  convention,  so  when  some  of  the  people  found 
out  seven  or  eight  Communists  wanted  to  put  their  names  on  the 
ballot,  Kinioto  took  it  upon  himself  to  call  the  Communists  together 
and  have  the  question  of  who  would  be  the  delegate  from  Honolulu 
decided. 

This  meeting  was  supposed  to  l)e  a  joint  longshoremen  meeting 
of  the  two  groups.  It  was  a  Communist  meeting.  There  were  many 
who  wanted  to  be  delegates  to  the  CMU  convention,  liowever,  the 
group  decided  that  (1)  Hichard  Shigemitsu  be  selected  to  go,  (2)  all 
other  Communists  withdraw  from  the  race,  and  (3)  all  Communists 
campaign  on  the  water  front  for  the  election  of  Richard  Shigemitsu. 
Shigemitsu  w^ent  to  the  CMU  convention. 

Those  present  at  this  meeting,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  were 
Jack  Kimoto,  James  Freeman,  Charles  and  ELV-^n  Fi  jimoto,  Jo!in 
Reinecke,  Koji  Ariyoshi,  Joe  Palomino,  Joseph  Kealalio,  Yukio  Abe, 
Frederick  Kamahoahoa,  John  Elias,  Jr.,  Levi  Kealoha,  Jidian  Na- 
puunoa,  Ben  Kahaawinui,  myself,  and  maybe  one  or  two  others. 

Here  I  would  like  to  identify  some  of  the  people  who  met  in  this 
group  who  were  not  longshoremen,  but  outsiders. 

Kimoto  was  an  outsider. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  By  "outsider"  you  mean  a  member  of  the  Com- 
munist Party,  but  not  a  member  of  the  union? 

Mr.  Kaw AND.  That  is  right. 

James  Freeman  was  an  outsider. 

Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto  were  outsiders. 

John  Reinecke  was  an  outsider. 

Koji  Ariyoshi  was  an  outsider. 

Joe  Palomino  w^as  an  outsider. 

All  the  rest  were  members  of  the  longshoremen's  union. 

Another  meeting  was  held  at  John  Reinecke's  Pahoa  Avenue  home 
in  October  or  November  1946.  Those  present  were  Ichiro  Izuka, 
John  Reinecke,  Jack  Kimoto,  Jack  Hall,  A.  Q.  McElrath,  Charles 
and  Eileen  Fujimoto,  and  possibly  Ralph  Vossbrink. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  believe  this  is  the  first  time  you  have  mentioned 
Ralph  Vossbrink.  Do  you  know  Ralph  Vossbrink  to  be  a  member  of 
the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Has  he  recently  been  a  candidate  for  election  to 
any  office? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Oh,  yes.  In  the  1947  election  when  I  was  dumped 
from  the  executive  board  I  missed  one  name  in  naming  the  eight 
members.  John  Reinecke  and  I  were  put  off  the  board,  and  Ralph 
Vossbrink  was  one  of  the  guys  who  took  oui-  places. 


COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IX    HAWAII  39 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  if  Ralph  Vossbriiik  now  holds  any 
political  oflico? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  No;  1  don't. 

Mr.  Veldk.  What  does  he  do  at  the  present  time? 

Mr.  Kaw.\xo.  He  is  now  workiii*:-  as  a  representative  of  some  small 
miscellaneous  unions.  He  is  orgariizing  taxi  drivers  and  is  represent- 
ing them.     He  has  300  or  400  ta.xi  (hivers  organized. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  whether  he  holds  any  position  in 
the  Democratic  organization? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  Xo;  he  does  not.  Ralph  Vossbrink,  1  think,  was  at 
Jack  Hall's  place  when  we  talked  about  moving  in  and  taking  over 
the  Democratic  Party.  If  he  was  not  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic 
convention,  I  remember  definitely  he  was  on  the  convention  floor, 
and  he  walked  out  of  the  convention  when  the  convention  was  about 
half  over.  He  walked  away  just  about  the  time  Berman  did.  We 
gave  Berman  a  hot  time,  so  Berman  walked  out  of  the  convention, 
and  at  the  same  time  Vossbrink  walked  out  of  the  convention.  He 
told  some  people  there  that  the  Communist  Party  could  have  taken 
over  the  Democratic  convention,  but  they  didn't,  so  he  was  com- 
pletely dissatisfied  with  the  results  and  he  threw  up  his  hands  and 
walked  out. 

At  the  meeting  at  John  Reinecke's  home  in  October  or  November 
1946,  Izuka  requested  that  the  party  change  its  stand  from  support- 
ing Joseph  Farrington  to  William  Borthwick  for  Delegate  to  Con- 
gress. That  was  between  the  primary  and  general  election.  Far- 
rington is  a  Republican,  and  in  that  election  of  1946  a  Democrat  by 
the  name  of  William  Borthwick  opposed  him.  In  the  primary  we 
supported  Joseph  Farrington.  Izuka  was  dissatisfied  as  a  Com- 
munist, and  asked  us  to  switch  from  Farrington  over  to  Borthwick. 

It  was  assumed  that  if  Izidva  was  able  to  convince  the  majority  of 
those  present  to  decide  to  support  Bill  Borthwick  instead  of  Farring- 
ton, then  Hall,  McElrath,  and  mvself  were  duty  bound  as  Commu- 
nists to  see  that  the  L-PAC  or  ILWU-PAC  reverse  its  position  and 
supnoT't  William  Borthwick  instead  of  Joseph  Farrington  in  the  race 
for  Deleo:ate  to  Congress.     Izuka  did  not  succeed. 

Mr.  Walter.  How  did  Mr.  Farrington  get  the  endorsement  of 
this  Communist  crowd? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  It  was  not  exactly  a  Communist  crowd.  You  see, 
as  far  as  Fariington  and  Borthwick  were  concerned,  they  don't  know 
the  maneuvering  in  the  back  of  the  labor  unions.  All  they  see  is  the 
front  of  the  labor  unions.  Both  Farrington  and  Borthwick  put  in  a 
request  to  the  unions  to  support  them;  and,  judging  the  two  of  them, 
the  union  decided  to  support  Farrington.  ^^lien  the  imion  decided 
to  suppoT't  Farrington  some  of  the  Communists  got  dissatisfied,  but 
some  of  the  Communists  were  in  favor  of  Farrington  at  that  time.  I 
was  in  favor  of  Farrington,  and  so  was  Jack  Hall,  but  Izuka's  crowd 
was  not  satisfied.  At  this  me(>ting  Izuka  handed  in  his  resignation 
and  walked  out. 

Mr.  Velde.  Did  the  Communist  Party  itself  ever  attempt  to  run 
a  candidate  on  the  Communist  Partv  ticket? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  There  have  been  talks  of  that,  but  it  has  never  been 
attempted,  and  I  don't  think  it  ever  will  be  attempted. 

Mr.  Velde..  For  anv  office  at  all? 


40  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Kawano.  No.  But  they  have  been  talking  about  some 
courageous  campaign  on  the  west  coast. 

Mr.  Velde.  I  am  just  referring  to  Hawaii.  I  was  wondering  if  the 
Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  realized  they  were  not  a  pohtical  organi- 
zation. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  the  closest  we  come  to  it  is  Harriet  Bouslog. 
She  was  a  Communist,  but  she  didn't  run  as  a  Communist.  I  don't 
know  whether  the  evidence  I  have  is  substantial  enough  for  me  to 
say  she  is  a  Communist,  but  later  on  I  will  make  the  record  clear 
what  I  know  about  her  activities. 

There  was  a  combination  educational  and  recruiting  meeting  held 
at  Vossbrink's  home  on  Pacific  Heights  Road  in  1947  or  1948.  Those 
present  were  Jack  Hall,  Ernest  Arena,  Edward  Hong,  Oshiro,  Fuji- 
moto,  Miyagi,  Castner  Ogawa,  Major  Okada,  Edametsu,  Yukio  Abe, 
myself,  Levi  Kealoha,  Joe  Kealalio,  Ralph  Vossbrink,  Charles  and 
Eileen  Fujimoto,  Jack  Kimoto,  John  Reinecke,  Koji  Ariyoshi,  Jim 
Freeman,  and  a  few  others  I  cannot  remember. 

After  lectures  by  Kimoto,  Freeman,  and  Fujimoto,  the  group 
decided  (1)  to  concentrate  recruiting  among  members  of  the  sugar 
and  pineapple  unions,  and  (2)  to  concentrate  recruiting  particularly 
among  Filipinos  and  Portuguese. 

They  found  that  there  were  quite  a  few  Japanese,  quite  a  few 
Hawaiians,  but  very  little  Filipinos  and  very  little  Portuguese;  and 
therefore  we  should  concentrate  our  recruiting  drive  particularly 
among  Filipinos  and  Portuguese,  and  particularly  in  the  pineapple  in- 
dustry. Another  thing  they  put  emphasis  on  was  that  we  should 
try  to  recruit  more  women  into  the  Communist  Party. 

In  1948 — this  was  after  they  moved  from  the  old  hall — there  was  a 
meeting  held  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  Reinecke  case,  but  no 
decision  was  made,  and  the  same  group  continued  the  meeting  later 
on  at  some  other  place.  I  remember  a  meeting  at  the  Manoa  home 
of  Attorney  Myer  C.  Symonds  to  discuss  the  strategy  of  the  Reinecke 
case.  He  stated  that  if  we  wanted  he  would  be  willing  to  represent 
the  Reineckes  at  the  hearing,  but  that  he  felt  it  was  going  to  be  a  very 
complicated  case,  and  therefore  he  thought  that  we  should  try  to  get 
someone  like  Gladstein  from  San  Francisco  down  to  handle  the  case 
for  the  Reineckes. 

After  some  discussion,  the  group  agreed  to  get  Gladstein  for  the 
case. 

Those  present  at  this  meeting  were  Jack  Hall,  myself,  Symonds, 
Joe  Palomino,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fujimoto,  John  Reinecke,  Ariyoshi,  Jim 
Freeman,  and  Jack  Kimoto. 

Air.  Tavenner.  Myer  C.  Symonds  was  present  at  this  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  It  was  at  his  home? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  he  was  employed  as  counsel,  and  that  was 
the  reason  for  his  appearance? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  don't  know  if  he  was  employed  as  coinisel  at  that 
time.  He  was  counsel  for  ILWU.  I  think  they  tried  to  engage  him 
for  the  Reinecke  case,  but  there  was  some  disagreement  as  to  whether 
we  should  go  ahead  with  the  Reinecke  case  through  the  hearing  or  not 
participate  in  the  hearing  at  all.  He  himself  was  not  so  sure  as  to 
whether  he  would  like  the  case.     He  called  these  people  together  and 


COMMUNIST   ACTIMTIES   IN   HAWAII  41 

told  them  at  this  mooting  he  woiihl  be  wilhng  to  serve  and  represent 
the  Reiiieckes  if  we  wauled  him  to.  but  he  advised  us  it  might  be  a 
better  i(k'a  if  we  engaged  someone  hke  Ghidstein,  who  had  more 
experience  than  he  had. 

So  after  hstening  to  him  we  decided  to  have  Richard  Gladstein 
come  down  and  take  over  the  case  for  the  Reineckes. 

Ah  the  peojik'  present  at  this  nuHMing  were  Communists  with  the 
exception  of  Alyer  C.  Symonds.  I  still  don't  know  if  he  was  a  Com- 
munist or  not,  but  the  subject  discussed  here  was  not  a  Communist 
subject. 

In  1948  there  was  considerable  discussion  about  the  party  coming 
out  in  the  open. 

Ever  since  Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto  came  back  after  their 
leadership  training  in  San  Francisco,  the  Freemans  and  the  Fujimotos 
have  been  agitating  about  having  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii 
come  out  in  the  open. 

There  Mere  many  who  opposed  that  idea,  but  most  of  them  were 
quiet  about  it  because  they  knew  that  the  program  to  come  out  in  the 
open  was  supported  by  the  San  Francisco  headquarters,  and  they  did 
not  want  to  be  labeled  by  the  superleftists  as  phonies.  Therefore, 
over  the  objection  of  a  few,  they  were  able  to  get  the  executive  board 
and  all  of  the  Communist  Party  units  on  record  favoring  the  Com- 
munist Party  of  Hawaii  eventually  coming  out  in  the  open. 

Then  the  Fujimotos  and  the  Freemans,  assisted  by  Palomino, 
Kimoto,  and  Ariyoslii,  pushed  the  party  executive  board  to  agree  that 
the  time  for  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  to  come  out  in  the  open 
was  now. 

They  met  opposition  from  Hall,  McElrath,  and  myself.  As  a  result 
of  this  sharp  disagreement,  and  in  order  to  pressure  some  of  us  into 
agreeing  with  them,  the  executive  board  held  several  meetings  with 
specially  invited  guests.  The  following  are  some  of  the  meetings  in 
which  I  participated. 

There  is  one  meeting  I  remember  held  at  Foster  Gardens,  a  small 
park.  Present  at  this  meeting  were  Jack  Kimoto,  Jim  Freeman, 
Koji  ^Vi'iyoshi,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fujimoto,  Jack  Hall,  myself,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  McElrath,  Harriet  Bouslog,  and  J.  L.  Robertson. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  was  this  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  You  see,  there  had  been  a  lot  of  meetings  up  to  this 
point  where  the  members  of  the  executive  board  did  not  agree  unani- 
mously that  the  party  should  come  out  in  the  open  now. 

Mr.  Velde.  Did  Harriet  Bouslog  engage  in  the  discussion  as  though 
she  was  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  vShe  did. 

Mr.  Velde.  Do  you  remember  if  she  opposed  the  idea? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Hall,  McElrath,  and  myself,  together  with  Robert- 
son, opposed  the  idea  of  coming  out  in  the  open.  The  rest  favored 
coming  out,  including  Harriet  Bouslog.  The  meeting  lasted  4  or  5 
hours,  but  there  was  no  meeting  of  minds. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  To  what  extent  did  Harriet  Bouslog  take  part  in 
the  discussions  about  the  matter? 

Mr.  Kawano.  The  strongest  arguments  came  from  Freeman,  the 
two  Fujimotos,  Palomino,  and  Ariyoslii;  and  Harriet  Bouslog  was  in 
.there  too,  pitching  in. 


42  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  vovi  know  the  circumstances  under  which  she 
attended  the  meeting?  She  was  not  a  membei-  of  the  executive  board, 
was  she? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  she  was  not,  and  up  to  that  point  I  did  not  know 
she  was  a  Communist,  although  hstening  to  her  talking  led  me  to 
believe  she  might  be  a  Communist,  but  this  was  a  special  meeting  of 
the  Communist  Party. 

Week  after  week  the  Communist  Party  executive  board  met,  and 
could  not  come  to  any  unanimous  decision,  and  so  to  help  the  members 
of  the  executive  board  convince  the  opposition  one  way  or  another, 
she  was  invited  by  the  chairman,  who  happened  to  be  at  that  time 
either  Jim  Freeman  or  Charles  Fujimoto.  So  she  attended  at  the 
invitation  of  the  chairman.     The  same  goes  for  J.  R.  Robertson. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  J.  R.  Robertson  was  a  member  of  the  Commimist 
Party,  was  he  not? 

Mr.  Kawano.  1  did  not  know  until  this  meeting.  I  never  saw  him 
in  any  Communist  Party  meeting  before  this  meeting. 

Mr.  Velde.  Was  he  a  lawyer? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  is  the  first  vice  president  of  ILWU,  the  second 
man  under  Harry  Bridges. 

Mr.  Velde.  Those  two,  Robertson  and  Bouslog,  were  the  only  two 
present  at  the  Foster  Gardens  and  PTansuma  Bay  meetings  who  were 
not  members  of  the  executive  board  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  KaW'Ano.  That  is  right. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  the  only  purpose  of  holding  the  meetings  was 
to  discuss  a  strictly  Communist  Party  matter? 

Mr.  Kawano.  \H^iether  the  party  should  come  out  in  the  open  or 
not. 

The  meeting  at  Hansuma  Bay  was  held  1  week  after  the  one  at 
Foster  Gardens.  Those  present  were  Jack  Kimoto,  Jim  Freeman, 
Ariyoshi,  Palomino,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fujimoto,  Jack  Hall,  myself,  A.  Q. 
AlcElrath,  J.  R.  Rol)ertson,  and  Harriet  Bouslog. 

At  this  meeting  Robertson  took  the  position  that  although  he 
agreed  that  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  should  come  out  in  the 
open,  the  very  fact  that  the  executive  board  could  not  get  out  a 
unanimous  decision  on  an  important  matter  like  this  was  proof 
enough  to  him  that  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  was  not  3'^et  ready 
to  come  out  in  the  open,  and  therefore  the  board  members  should  for- 
get about  coming  out  in  the  open  for  the  time  being. 

That  was  the  position  taken  by  J.  R.  Robertson. 

Mr., Tavenner.  That  was  a  compromise  position  from  the  one  he 
took  at  the  first  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  The  matter  was  not  settled  there.  This 
Hansuma  Bay  meeting  ended  with  no  meeting  of  minds  on  both 
sides. 

Mr.  Velde.  Will  you  explain  what  you  meant,  and  what  othei 
members  of  the  executive  board  meant,  by  "coming  out  in  the  open"? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  as  you  know,  in  quite  a  few  of  the  labor  unions 
you  see  now  and  then  guys  recognized  by  the  press  and  by  members 
of  the  union  as  members  of  the  Communist  Party.  Take  San  Fran- 
cisco, a  guy  by  the  name  of  Walter  Stack,  he  was  known  as  a  Com- 
mimist. He  campaigned  for  his  position  as  patrolman  for  the  fire- 
men's union  as  a  Communist,  and  he  used  to  get  in  office. 


CORIAIUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  43 

Take  a  present  west-coast  party  oi-ti:anizer,  the  guy  who  came  over 
to  llonohilu;  I  forget  ]\is  name  now;  he  is  also  one.  They  take  pride 
in  heinii'  i(U'ntilietl  as  Connnunists. 

In  Hawaii  there  was  nohocly  identified  as  a  Communist,  particularly 
in  the  laboi-  unions.  So  the  move  here  was  to  get  the  Communist 
Thirty  of  Hawaii  to  come  out  in  the  open,  but  that  was  not  for  the 
party  to  expose  all  their  membership. 

Mr.  Vklde.  Mr.  Owens  just  mentioned  you  had  no  Communist 
Party  headqiuirters  as  such  in  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  That  is  correct.  And  the  plan  also  was  to  select 
two  or  three  people  from  labor  unions  to  come  out  and  be  identified 
as  Communists. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  they  discuss  at  that  time  who  the  persons 
should  be  a  ho  should  come  out  publicly  as  members  of  the  Communist 
Party? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  I  didn't  get  the  question. 

Mr.  Tavexner.  Did  they  discuss  at  that  time  the  names  of  those 
who  should  come  out  publicly  as  members  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Some  were  discussed.  For  instance,  Charles  Fuji- 
moto's  name  was  mentioned  as  one  who  should  come  out  in  the  open; 
Jack  Hall's  name  was  mentioned;  my  name  was  mentioned;  Richard 
Shigemitsu's  name  was  mentioned;  Levi  Kealoha's  name  was  mentioned; 
and  a  few  others. 

The  plan  was  to  have  at  least  one  from  each  union  and  one  from 
each  island  come  out  and  be  identified  as  a  member  of  the  Communist 
Party.  When  they  select  these  people  they  are  very  careful  to  select 
somebody  who  has  a  deep-rooted  strength,  so  that  the  membership 
won't  take  it  too  bad  and  dump  him. 

There  was  another  meeting  I  attended  at  the  Makiki  home  of  the 
Fujimotos. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Before  you  go  to  that  meeting,  did  Harriet  Bouslog 
take  an  active  part  in  the  meetings? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Tn  the  Foster  Gardens  and  Hanauma  Bay  meetings 
she  did,  and  her  position  was  the  same  throughout,  that  we  should 
come  out  in  the  open. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Did  she  enter  into  a  factual  discussion  of  the 
matter,  or  did  she  just  sit  back  and  wait  until  she  was  asked  for  legal 
advice? 

Mi-.  Kawano.  Oh,  no,  she  entered  into  the  discussion.  One  of  the 
positions  she  took  was  that  it  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  union  for 
the  Communist  Party  to  come  out  in  the  open,  because  when  things 
are  not  known,  all  the  attacks  are  taken  by  the  ILWU,  but  if  the 
Communist  Party  comes  out  in  the  open,  the  present  attacks  on 
ILWl^  could  be  diverted  to  the  Communist  Party  members  or  to  the 
Communist  Party  instead  of  the  ILWU,  so  that  it  would  be  better 
for  the  ILWU  and  also  better  for  the  Communist  Party. 

I  was  ordered  one  dav  during  my  working  hours  to  go  to  the 
Fujimoto  home  in  Makiki  to  give  an  interview  to  one  Archie  Brown, 
a  California  Communist.  He  is  an  open  Communist  member  of 
ILWU  at  San  Francisco. 

I  went  and  met  him  there.  Charlie  and  Eileen  were  home.  When 
I  went  in,  the  three  of  them,  Charlie,  Eileen,  and  Brown,  huddled 
in  a  closed  room  for  about  10  minutes;  then  Charlie  and  Eileen  walked 
out  and  asked  me  to  go  in. 


44  COMMUNIST    ACTI^'ITIES    IN   HAWAII 

Brown  didn't  pull  any  punches.  He  started  right  out  and  wanted 
to  know  why  we  were  opposed  to  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii 
coming  out  in  the  open.  He  said  the  fact  the  Communist  Party  was 
not  in  the  open  was  forcing  the  ILWU  into  a  very  diihcult  defensive 
position. 

He  said  that  the  position  I  was  taking  on  the  executive  board  was 
phony,  and  that  he  didn't  think  much  of  those  who  took  the  same 
position.  He  said  he  had  talked  to  many  people  since  he  had  come 
there,  and  that  all  of  them  were  good  dependable  Communists,  but 
he  found  that  only  a  few  handfuls  of  us  were  retarding  the  progress 
of  the  Communist  movement  in  the  Territory. 

He  said  that  there  was  going  to  be  an  enlarged  board  meeting,  a 
semi-Communist  Party  convention,  very  shortly  to  decide  this  matter 
once  and  for  all,  and  he  asked  me  to  promise  that  I  would  live  up  to 
the  decision  made  by  the  majority  of  those  that  met. 

I  told  him  I  would  think  it  over,  and  I  walked  out  of  that  meeting. 

Then  comes  the  enlarged  executive  board  meeting  referred  to. 
The  meeting  was  held  at  Ewa  Beach.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  special 
convention  to  decide  the  question  of  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii 
coming  out  in  the  open. 

Those  present  were  Wilfred  Oka,  Castner  Ogawa,  Major  Okada, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McEirath,  Jack  Hall,  Dave  Thompson,  John  Eeinecke, 
Koji  Ariyoshi,  Joe  Palomino,  Ben  Kahaawinui,  Yukio  Abe,  Newton 
Miyagi,  Edametsu,  Rachel  Saiki,  Yasuki  Arakaki,  Thomas  Yagi, 
Omuro,  Robert  Kunimura,  Ralph  Vossbrink,  Joseph.  Kealalio,  Levi 
Kealoha,  Wallace  Kamihara,  Julian  Napuunoa,  and  several  others 
I  do  not  remember. 

This  group  voted  that  the  party  come  out  in  the  open.  But  here, 
again,  in  the  selection  of  the  date  there  was  sharp  conflict.  It  ended 
up  by  McEirath  and  Archie  Brown  calling  each  other  names  which 
eventually  developed  in  the  ousting  of  McEirath  by  his  own  cell.  At  a 
later  date  the  board  expelled  McEirath. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Can  you  fix  the  date  of  that  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  This  was  around  July  1948.  The  exact  date  I 
cannot  say.     It  was  on  a  Sunday  around  July  1948. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Can  you  state  whether  or  not  the  pereons  whom 
vou  named  as  being  present  were  all  members  of  the  Communist 
Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.   All  members  of  the  Communist  Party. 

There  was  another  meeting  in  Santa  Maria  Hall  in  San  Francisco. 
The  Santa  Maria  Hall  is  a  second-story  meeting  hall  in  the  ILWU 
building.  It  was  not  too  long  after  the  Ewa  Beach  meeting  in  October 
that  I  attended  another  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the 
subject  of  coming  out  in  the  op'en.  Those  present  at  this  meeting 
were  Miss  Celeste  Strack,  Archie  Brown,  Louis  Goldblatt,  J.  R. 
Robertson,  and  myself. 

I  argued  against  coming  out  in  the  open  again  at  this  meeting; 
and  at  the  end  of  the  meeting  Brown  and  Strack,  who  represented  the 
Communist  Party  California  State  Committee,  told  me  that  if  I  was 
able  to  convince  the  m.ajority  of  the  Communist  Party  executive 
board  members  in  Honolulu,  and  particularly  the  Freemans  and  the 
Fujimotos,  they  had  no  objections. 

When  I  returned  to  Hawaii  I  talked  to  Charles  and  Eileen  Fujimoto, 
Ariyoshi,  and  Freeman  separate!}^;  and  when  I  found  it  was  useless  I 
told  them  I  was  going  to  quit. 


COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  45 

Mr.  Tavenner.  "What  do  you  mean,  that  you  were  going  to  quit? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  I  was  not  going  to  participate  in  any  more 
Communist  Party  activities. 

The  next  meeting  1  attended 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Just  a  moment.  Tell  us  what  you  know  about 
Louis  Goldblatt. 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  is  secretary-treasurer  of  the  International  Long- 
shoremen's and  Warehousemen's  Union.  I  have  no  knowledge  as 
to  whether  he  is  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party  or  not,  but  he 
Avas  the  guy  who  arranged  for  the  meeting  in  vSanta  Maria  Hall. 
He  called"  Celeste  Strsick  and  Archie  Brown  and  J.  R.  Robertson  to 
the  meeting,  and  the  subject  under  discussion  was  still  the  cjuestion 
of  coming  out  in  the  open. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Was  this  meeting  called  at  your  request? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  And  what  was  your  purpose  in  calling  the  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  My  idea  was  to  convince  Goldblatt  and  Robertson 
so  that  they  would  assist  me  in  arguing  against  Strack  and  Brown, 
and  beat  them.  What  happened,  the  meeting  ended  by  their  saying 
that  if  I  was  able  to  convince  the  majority  of  the  Communist  Party 
executive  board  members  in  Honolulu  they  would  go  along. 

In  1949  I  remember  attending  a  meeting  at  Jack  Kimoto's  home. 
This  meeting  took  place  in  the  latter  part  of  1948  or  very  early  in 
1949. 

I  think  it  was  Jim  Freeman  who  read  a  letter  from  the  Communist 
Party  headquarters  in  San  Francisco.  That  letter  explained  that  the 
officers  of  the  ILWU  were  having  a  bad  time  from  the  ACTU  gang — 
American  Catholic  Trade  Union — and  that  if  we  did  not  watch  out 
the  ACTU  might  be  able  to  capture  the  coming  ILWU  convention 
that  was  coming  up  in  April  1949;  and  that  if  this  happened,  the 
control  and  influence  that  the  Communist  Party  had  over  the  ILWU 
would  be  broken.  That  letter  urged  us  to  do  all  we  could  to  stack 
the  convention  with  (1)  delegates  who  were  Communists  from  Hawaii, 
(2)  delegates  who  could  be  controlled  by  Communists. 

At  this  meeting  the  group  decided  to  follow  instructions.  Tliey 
campaigned  for  Communists,  and  a  lot  of  them  got  elected.  How- 
ever, there  were  a  lot  of  non-Communists  elected  also.  So  at  the 
caucus  before  the  convention  in  San  Francisco  the  Hawaiian  dele- 
gates met  and  decided  to  select  Jack  Hall  and  myself  to  be  cochaumen 
of  the  Hawaiian  delegates,  making  it  impossible  for  the  delegates  to 
vote  on  matters  as  they  personally  saw  fit.  This  trick  was  decided  on* 
at  a  meeting  between  Hall,  Fujimoto,  and  Freeman. 

Those  who  were  present  at  this  meeting  were  Charles  and  Eileen 
Fujimoto,  Jim  Freeman,  Koji  Ariyoshi,  Jack  Kimoto,  John  Reinecke, 
Castner  Ogawa,  Newton  Miyagi,  Edamatsu,  Joseph  Kealalio,  Yukio 
Abe,  Joe  Palomino,  Julian  Napuunoa,  myself,  Wallace  Kamikara, 
John  Elias,  Jr.,  and  Levi  Kealoha. 

The  next  meeting  was  around  the  middle  of  1949.  It  anticipated 
the  sugar  strike  and  was  held  at  Kimoto's  home.  Those  present  were 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fujimoto,  Jim  Freeman,  Koji  Ariyoshi,  Jack  Kimoto, 
John  Reinecke,  Thomas  Yagi,  Kunimura,  Castner  Ogawa,  Major 
Okada,  Newton  Miyagi,  Edamatsu,  Joseph  Kealalio,  Levi  Kealoha, 
Wallace  Kamikara,  Yukio  Abe,  Julian  Napuunoa,  niA^self,  and  maybe 
one  or  two  others  I  do  not  remember. 


46  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN   HAWAII 

When  I  went  to  the  meeting  it  was  late,  and  the  group  had  ah-eady 
made  its  decision  to  strike  in  sugar.  Charles  Fujimoto,  who  acted  as 
chairman  at  that  meeting,  started  to  explain  the  decision  to  me.  He 
stated: 

(1)  The  longshore  strike  has  put  the  Big  Five  in  a  bad  financial 
condition — Big  Five,  meaning  American  Factors,  Ltd.:  Castle  & 
Cooke,  Ltd.;  Alexander  &  Baldwin;  C.  Brewer  &  Co.;  and  Theo 
H.  Davies  &  Co. 

(2)  Therefore  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  major  strike  in  the  sugar 
industry. 

(3)  Balloting  in  sugar  plantations  proved  favorable,  and  the 
workers  in  the  sugar  industry  are  ready  for  a  strike. 

(4)  A  joint  longshore-sugar  strike  now  is  the  proper  Communist 
strategy. 

(5)  The  Communists,  who  are  members  of  the  sugar  executive 
board,  are  instructed  to  vote  and  put  their  local  on  record  for  a  strike 
and  clear  the  deck  for  a  strike,  which  should  not  take  more  than 
1  week. 

Then  he  asked  me  if  there  was  anything  I  wanted  to  say. 
I  told  him  their  plan  was  "haywire"  and  all  "wet."    I  said  that  their 
plan,  if  followed,  would  not  help  but  would  break  the  union.     I  said: 

(1)  The  morale  of  the  longshoremen  on  strike  was  being  kept  up 
mainly  because  they  were  getting  substantial  financial  assistance  from 
the  sugar  workers. 

(2)  The  boys  in  sugar  were  willmg  to  offer  financial  aid  to  the 
longshore  strikers,  but  were  unwilling  to  go  out  on  strike  at  this  time. 

(3)  A  strike  in  sugar  will  end  up  with  no  union,  because  I  knew  in 
many  plantations  more  than  one-half  of  the  employees  would  continue 
working  and  would  not  come  out  on  strike. 

(4)  A  strike  in  sugar  would  not  only  break  the  sugar  union,  but 
would  break  the  current  longshore  strike. 

There  was  heated  argument  between  myself  and  some  of  those  that 
were  present.  However,  in  the  end,  just  to  satisfy  me  outwardly, 
they  put  the  vote.  I  was  the  only  one  voting  against  the  sugar  strike. 
All  the  rest  voted  for  it. 

Among  the  sugar  workers  I  agitated  against  a  strike,  and  the  strike 
did  not  materialize. 

This  meeting  of  June  1949  was  the  last  meeting  of  the  Communist 
Party  of  Hawaii  that  I  attended. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  began  to  tell  us  about  the  ILWU  convention 
•-of  1949,  and  discussed  that  at  some  length.  Was  that  a  meeting  of 
the  ILWU  as  distinguished  from  a  Communist  meeting? 

Mr.  Kawano.  You  mean  about  the  ACTU? 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Yes. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Wei],  what  I  was  talking  about  there  was  about  a 
meeting  of  an  enlarged  committee  of  the  board  of  the  Communist 
Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes.  It  was  either  Jim  Freeman  or  Jack  Kimoto  or 
maybe  Charles  Fujimoto  who  got  instructions  from  San  Francisco 
informing  them  that  the  ACTU  was  gaining  power  on  the  west  coast 
and  that  the  Communist  officers  would  be  removed  if  nothing  was 
done  by  us  from  the  islands.    So  they  instructed  us  to  stack  the  con- 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  47 

vention  with  delegates  who  were  Coinmimists  or  who  could  be  con- 
trolled by  Coiiiinuiiists. 

Mr.  Tavenxer.  You  stated  that  the  meetmo;  of  June  1949  was  the 
last  meeting  of  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  that  you  attended. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenxer.  Did  that  represent  an  absolute  break  between 
you  and  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Wlio  were  the  leading  or  most  responsible  leaders 
in  the  Communist  Party  in  Hawaii  after  it  was  reactivated  in  1946? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  The  most  responsible  ones,  I  guess,  were  Kimoto; 
Jack  Hall,  myself,  and  maybe  the  two  Fujimotos. 

Mr.  Tavenxer.  To  what  extent  did  Hall,  Freeman,  yourself,  and 
Kimoto  use  influence  in  directing  the  afi'airs  of  the  union  during  the 
period  of  the  H^WU  strike,  the  longshoremen's  strike? 

Mr.  Kawano.  During  the  beginning  of  that  period  I  am  not  in 
position  to  sa\^,  because  I  was  assigned  as  a  lobbyist  in  the  Territorial 
legislature,  and  therefore  I  was  not  serving  as  an  official  member  of 
the  strike  committee. 

Mr.  Walter.  AMio  assigned  you  as  a  lobbyist? 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  The  four  locals  of  nj"V^"L^,  together  with  the  regional 
du'ector.  All  the  maneuvering  and  plans  that  took  place,  and  all  the 
strategy  that  was  planned,  I  was  not  in  on  those  things,  because  I  was 
in  the  Territorial  legislature  until  the  last  day  of  the  legislature.  I 
came  back  to  the  strike  headciuarters  on  the  second  day  of  the  strike, 
and  from  that  time  on  I  participated. 

Mr.  Tavenx'er.  To  what  extent  were  Communist  Party  members 
who  were  not  members  of  the  ILWU  taking  part  in  the  strike? 

Mr.  Kawax'o.  All  I  can  say  is  what  took  place  during  the  strike, 
because  before  the  strike  I  am  not  in  position  to  say.  During  th* 
strike  the  women's  committee,  headed  by  Pearl  Freeman  and  Eileen 
Fujimoto 

Air.  Tavenxer.  Women's  committee  of  what? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Of  the  Communist  set-up.  They  took  an  active 
part.  Eileen  Fujimoto  and  Pearl  Freeman  tried  to  organize  a  women's 
auxiliarv,  and  tliev  maneuvered  to  get  Pearl  Freeman  and  Eileen 
rujimoto  to  become  ex  officio  members  of  the  women's  committee. 
Their  main  interest  was  to  get  the  women  interested  in  reading  Com- 
munist literature  and  to  get  a  good  chance  to  recruit  during  the  strike. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Were  there  occasions  of  disagreement  among  the 
leaders  in  the  Comm.unist  Party  with  reference  to  union  matters 
which  had  to  be  settled  by  any  higher  level? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Before  I  answer  that  question  I  would  like  to  answer 
a  previous  question.  That  is  this:  I  said  I  felt  the  longshore  strike 
was  being  conducted  properly  and  so  they  had  nothing  to  add.  That 
is  true  to  that  point,  but  when  they  tried  to  get  the  sugar  people 
together  and  they  put  the  sugar  union  on  strike  along  with  the  long- 
shoremen's union,  that  was  to  prolong  the  longshoremen's  strike 
also,  I  guess,  and  that  was  the  object  of  the  meeting  held  at  Kimoto's 
place. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Do  you  know  how  disagreements  between.  Hall  and 
anv  of  his  associates  in  the  Communist  Partv  were  settled  or  to  be 
settled? 


48  COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   EST   HAWAII 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  all  I  can  say  here  is  what  I  learned  from  Hall, 
At  one  time  near  the  end  of  1948  or  very  early  in  1949,  Jack  Hall  was 
in  such  a  jjosition  that  he  wanted  to  quit  his  job  as  regional  director. 
The  reason  for  that  was  that  there  was  quite  a  bit  of  pressure  being  put 
on  him  by  the  Comm.unists.  Some  of  those  Communists  were  mem- 
bers of  unions,  but  a  great  many  of  the  Communists  were  outsiders 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  unions  but  held  very  high  positions  in  the 
Communist  Party  of  Hawaii. 

So  he  told  me  that  he  went  to  San  Francisco  with  the  idea  of  having 
a  show-down,  because  Robertson,  first  vice  president  of  ILWU,  he 
said,  listened  to  the  other  group  more  than  he  did  to  Jack  Hall.  And 
so  he  went  to  San  Francisco  and  had  a  talk  with  the  thi'ee  leaders. 
Bridges,  Goldblatt,  and  Robertson;  and  who  else  outside  of  that  met 
with  them,  I  don't  know,  but  he  said  he  had  a  good  working  arrange- 
ment worked  out. 

He  said  the  plan  was  that  he  had  the  right  to  disagree  with  the 
local  Communist  Party,  that  he  was  an  employee  of  the  international, 
and  any  time  orders  from  the  international  office  did  not  coincide  with 
directives  of  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii,  he  did  not  have  to 
follow  the  wishes  of  the  Coro.munist  Party  of  Hawaii  but  had  to  follow 
the  directives  of  the  international  office  in  San  Francisco. 

Then  he  said  that  whenever  such  a  problem  occurred  he  would 
reject  accepting  the  recommendation  of  the  Communist  Party  of 
Hawaii  and  have  that  problem  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  inter- 
national office  of  ILWU  and  the  State  Communist  Party  headquarters 
to  settle,  and  if  they  settled  amicably  he  would  follow  the  decision; 
if  it  could  not  be  settled  amicably,  then  it  would  be  tlirown  into  the 
national  headquarters  of  the  Communist  Party  in  New  York,  and 
whatever  was  decided  would  be  accepted  by  the  State  headquarters 
in  California  and  the  international  office  in  San  Francisco. 

Air.  Tavenner.  The  final  appeal,  then,  was  to  the  Communist 
Party  headquarters  in  New  York? 

Air.  Kawano.  That  is  correct. 

Air.  Tavenner.  And  it  was  not  a  question  of  the  national  head- 
quarters of  the  Communist  Party  agreeing  with  the  international 
office  of  the  union,  but  w^as  pm-ely  the  decision  of  the  Communist 
national  headquarters? 

Air.  Kawano.  That  is  right.  It  is  predetermination,  I  guess,  on 
the  part  of  the  international  office  of  the  union  and  the  State  head- 
quarters of  the  Communist  Party  to  accept  whatever  decision  might 
come  out  of  the  national  headquarters  of  the  Communist  Party  in 
New  York. 

Air.  Tavenner.  Are  you  acquainted  with  William  H.  Glazier? 

Air.  Kawano.  Yes;  I  have  known  him. 

Air.  Tavenner.  What  position  did  he  hold;  do  you  know? 

Air.  Kawano.  He  is  supposed  to  be  the  legislative  representative  of 
the  ILWU  whose  office  is  stationed  somewhere  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

Air.  Tavenner.  Has  your  association  with  him  been  such  that  you 
could  state  whether  or  not  he  is  a  member  of  the  Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kawano.  No;  I  cannot. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  mentioned  in  the  course  of  your  testimony 
Mr.  Rutledge. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Air.  Arthur  Rutledge? 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  49 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Was  he  known  to  you  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party? 

Mr.  Kaavaxo.  Never. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  You  have  also  mentioned  Airs.  Pearl  Freeman. 

Mr.  Kawano.  Yes. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  I  believe  you  indicated  that  you  thought  she  was 
more  powerful,  possibly,  than  her  husband,  Jim  Freeman? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  did. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Tell  the  committee  what  you  base  your  judgment 
on. 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  talk  to  her  and  to  judge 
her  personal  reaction  to  making  snap  decisions  on  questions  and  the 
amount  of  things  that  she  knew  about  communism.  Also,  I  found  out 
that  she  had  been  for  a  long  time  an  active  organizer  for  the  Com- 
munist Party  in  Oakland,  Calif.,  and  it  seems  to  me,  from  talking  to 
her,  that  she  gives  me  an  idea  that  she  would  be  a  higher-caliber 
Communist  than  Jim  Freeman  himself. 

And  sometime  ago  when  1  talked  to  Archie  Brown  regarding  Jim 
Freeman  and  his  judgment,  Archie  Browoi  told  me  that  as  far  as  the 
Freemans  were  concerned  he  had  no  question  about  their  judgment, 
that  they  are  really  good  Communists,  and  particularly  Pearl  Freeman. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  \'Miat  do  you  consider  to  be  the  position  of  the 
Communist  Party  in  Hawaii  today?  What  influence  does  it  wield 
and  what  activities  does  it  engage  in? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  this  might  surprise  you,  but  from  my  personal 
judgment  I  feel  that  the  Communist  Party  of  Hawaii  today  is  just  as 
influential  as  it  was  6  months  ago  or  a  year  ago,  and  I  think  it  is  even 
more  influential,  because  the  influence  of  the  Communist  Party  is 
gro^^-ing.     I  can  cite  some  examples,  for  instance. 

(Representative  Clyde  Doyle  entered  hearing  room.) 

Mr.  Kawano  (continuing).  In  the  beginning  the  Communist 
PartA^'s  influence  was  practically  nil.  Today  the  influence  goes 
pretty  deep  into  the  membership  of  the  ILWU.  The  influence  prac- 
tically covers  HCLC.  I  don't  say  all  their  members  rre  Communists, 
but  more  than  half  of  the  membership  of  HCLC  are  Communists. 
With  the  few  people  planted  in  the  unions,  and  a  combination  of 
those  not  in  the  unions,  they  played  a  ver}^  important  part  m  the 
Democratic  Party  machinery  in  the  islands. 

For  instance,  right  now  in  the  Democratic  Party  there  are  two 
known  factions.  One  is  called  the  walk-out  faction,  and  the  other 
is  called  the  stand-pat  faction.  The  walk-out  faction  is  the  group 
that  walked  out  of  the  last  convention;  and  the  stand-pat  faction  is 
the  group  that  stayed  and  participated  in  the  Democratic  Party 
convention. 

But  that  is  only  on  the  surface.  Down  below,  within  the  stand-pat 
group,  there  are  maybe  3  to  5  percent  of  the  delegates  in  the  stand-pat 
group  that  are  Communists,  but  about  30  to  40  percent  of  the  dele- 
gates are  members  of  the  ILWU,  and,  if  not  Communists,  are  very 
easily  influenced  by  Communists. 

There  is  a  big  struggle  going  on.  The  stand-pat  group  has  pro- 
labor  people,  sympathetic  to  labor  but  strong  anti-Communists. 
There  is  a  struggle  between  those  people  and  some  people  who  have 


50  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII 

no  principles  and  are  willing  to  play  all  sides  against  the  middle,  and 
permit  themselves  to  be  helped  by  Communists. 

Mr.  Walter.  Who  heads  the  stand-pat  group? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Lau  Ah  Chew.  Lau  Ah  Chew  is  the  man  that 
operates  on  the  basis  that  he  doesn't  care  what  he  says  or  doesn't 
care  too  much  about  the  program  or  policy  or  ideals  of  the  Democratic 
Party.  All  he  is  interested  in  is  to  be  able  to  get  a  certain  amount 
of  followers  behind  him.  He  felt  it  was  a  good  deal  for  him,  becauue 
all  he  has  to  do  is  to  say  what  certain  individuals  tell  him  to  say  at 
the  time  they  want  him  to  say  it. 

Mr.  Walter.  Is  he  a  Communist? 

Mr.  Kawano.  He  is  not  a  Communist,  but  he  allows  himself  to  be 
led  by  the  nose  by  Communists  or  people  led  by  Communists. 

The  chairman  of  the  stand-pat  group  today,  we  don't  have.  The 
group  that  Lau  Ah  Chew  represents  have  made  a  switch.  Lau  Ah 
Chew  was  not  able  to  get  other  liberal  Democrats  to  line  up,  so  the 
Communists  swung  their  support  behind  somebody  else,  and  the  man 
they  are  banking  on  to  do  their  bidding  is  Vincent  Esposito. 

fisposito  has  been  very  closely  associated  with  Harriet  Bouslog. 
He  has  never,  to  my  knowledge,  been  a  mem.ber  of  the  Communist 
Party,  but  he  is  a  very  close  associate  of  Harriet  Bouslog. 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Democratic  Central  Committee,  the 
struggle  for  chairmanship  was  between  Vincent  Esposito  and  Mitsuy- 
uki  Kido,  Esposito  being  supported  by  Lau  Ah  Chew  and  Mitsuyuki 
Kido  being  supported  by  liberal  Democrats.  The  meeting  ended  up 
by  no  decision.  Mitsuyuki  Kido's  group  had  n^ore  people  present, 
but  Lau  Ah  Chew  and  Esposito 's  group  had  m.ore  votes  counting  the 
proxies.  Mitsuyuki  Kido's  group  put  up  a  challenge  because  the 
other  group  tried  to  use  the  proxies  of  Thom,as  Yagi,  Kameo  Ichimura, 
and  Bob  IVlurasaki;  and  they  were  challenged  on  the  basis  they  were 
Communists  and  they  were  not  entitled  to  have  their  proxies  used. 
The  Democratic  Party,  as  it  stands  today,  does  not  have  any  official 
chairman.  It  just  goes  to  show  the  Communists  don't  have  strength 
enough  to  run  the  Dem.ocratic  Party,  but  they  have  strength  enough 
to  put  a  snag  in  the  activities  of  the  Democratic  Party. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Is  it  your  view  that  despite  the  disclosure  of  many 
persons  as  members  of  tlie  Communist  Party  by  this  committee,  that 
the  Comjnunist  Party  today  is  wielding  as  much  or  more  influence 
in  Hawaii  as  it  was  before? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  would  say  their  influence  is  still  picking  up.  For 
instance,  in  the  Democratic  Party  if  those  people  hatl  not  walked 
out — I  am  talking  about  those  that  walked  out  in  the  convention — if 
they  had  stayed  back  we  would  be  able  to  weed  out  the  Communists 
and  forget  about  them.  But  that  is  not  the  case.  So  the  fighting 
nucleus  within  the  Democratic  Party  is  so  small  we  are  having  a 
pretty  tough  time. 

Furthermore,  as  far  as  the  influence  of  the  two  lawyers,  Harriet 
Bouslog  and  Alyer  C.  Symonds,  is  concernetl,  they  have  made  quite 
a  reputation  for  themselves  in  the  islands.  There  are  a  lot  of  inde- 
pendent people  outside  of  the  labor  movement  today  looking  up  to. 
them  as  good  lawyers.  I  have  heard  a  lot  of  rumors  among  outsid- 
ers— because  today  I  am  one  of  the  outsiders — and  the  talk  among 
outsiders  today  is  that  if  you  have  a  case  and  you  cannot  afford  to 
lose  the  case,  then  the  lawyer  to  get  is  either  Bouslog  or  Symonds, 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES   IN   HAWAII  51 

because  tliey  work  for  a  cheap  fee,  and  work  like  the  dickens,  and 
usually  win  the  case. 

Mr.  Walter.  Of  course  a  contribution  to  that  was  made  by  the 
judge  who  leaned  backwards  to  reach  a  decision  that  in  many  cases 
was  erroneous.  I  agree  that  in  some  of  the  citations  for  contempt 
the  witnesses  should  have  been  acquitted,  but  in  many  other  cases 
there  was  absolutely  no  justification  for  the  decision  reached. 

Mr.  Kawaxo.  Another  thing.  A  lot  of  people  who  are  not  Re- 
pul)lican  and  not  Democratic,  but  to  some  extent  used  to  have  per- 
sonal friends,  some  had  Republican  friends  and  some  Democratic 
friends,  and  whenever  they  had  problems  thoy  used  to  run  up  to 
Republicans  or  to  Democrats,  today  they  are  running  to  Bouslog 
and  Symonds.  Those  people  are  not  the  most  influential  people  in 
town,  but  they  are  influential  and  a  lot  of  people  are  following  them. 

Mr.  Tavenn'er.  To  what  extent  is  the  Communist  Partv  today 
influencing  the  programs  of  the  workers  and  the  like? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  cannot  say  because  I  am  not  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party  today,  but  if  the  Communist  Party  is  operating 
today  as  it  was  operating  when  I  left  the  partv  in  June  1949  I  would 
say  its  influence  is  just  as  strong  if  not  stronger. 

Mr.  Doyle.  You  have  just  made  the  statement  that  the  influence 
of  the  CoTninunist  Party  in  Hawaii  is  as  strong  if  not  stronger  today. 

Mr.  K.\WANO.  That  is  true. 

Mr.  Doyle.  Wliat  is  the  reason  for  their  increase  in  strength,  in 
your  judgment? 

Mr.  Kawano.  Well,  in  the  first  place,  they  have  the  ILWU  tied 
up.  They  make  policies  and  important  decisions  for  the  ILWU. 
There  is  no  question  about  that.  They  go  so  far  as  to  line  up  can- 
didates and  campaign  for  those  guys  for  office.  They  determine  who 
is  going  to  run  as  head  of  this  local  or  head  of  that  local.  They  even 
determine  things  like  that.  So  they  practically  run  the  ILWU,  not 
directly,  but  they  run  it.  So  when  it  comes  to  election  time  they  will 
get  ILWU  backing. 

They  also  get  the  backing  of  the  HCLC.  HCLC  is  not  entirely  a 
Communist  organization.  A  lot  of  people  don't  carry  Communist 
cards,  but  whatever  decision  is  made  by  the  HCLC,  these  people  go 
out  and  follow  through.  In  other  words,  some  time  ago  when  the 
HCLC  decided  to  put  its  support  back  of  the  Reinecke  case,  it  was 
not  only  the  Communist  members  in  HCLC  that  solicited  funds  for 
the  Reinecke  case,  but  members  who  were  not  Communists  also 
solicited  funds  for  the  Reinecke  case.  Some  of  these  people  have  a 
good  deal  of  mone}',  and  it  doesn't  harm  them  to  put  out  $100  or  $50 
apiece. 

The  taxi  driv^ers  organized  by  Ralph  Vossbrink — there  are  about 
300  or  350  organized — and  Ralph  being  a  Communist,  you  may  be 
sure  a  certain  amount  of  Communist  activity  is  going  on  in  the  taxi 
drivers'  union.  The  taxi  drivers  do  a  lot  of  talking  and  see  a  lot  of 
people,  and  they  get  out  in  the  precincts  and  make  their  position 
felt.  In  some  of  the  precincts  they  go  around  soliciting  signatures  on 
petitions  in  the  Reinecke  case,  and  sometimes  they  get  quite  a  num- 
ber of  petitions  signed  up.  In  3  or  4  months'  time  during  the  Reinecke 
case  they  got  ten  to  twelve  thousand  signatures. 

The  influence  of  these  individuals  is  growing.  The  influence  of 
Harriet  Bouslog  is  growing.     The  influence  of  the  paper  by  Jack 


52  COMMUNIST    ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII 

Kimoto  is  growing;.  Many  people  not  Communists  read  the  paper 
and  they  think  it  is  a  good  paper,  too.  That  is  what  I  mean  when 
I  say  the  influence  is  increasing. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  What  about  the  extent  of  Communist  influence  in 
educational  institutions  at  this  time? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  am  not  in  position  to  say.  I  don't  think  it  is  as 
strong  as  it  used  to  be. 

Mr.  Tavenner.  Is  there  anything  else  you  desire  to  say? 

Mr.  Kawano.  I  have  just  one  short  statement. 

I  would  like  to  have  the  record  show  that  I  want  to  offer  my  thanks 
and  deep  appreciation  particularly  to  Judge  Chuck  Mau;  Representa- 
tive Mitsuyuki  Kido;  Mr.  John  A.  Burns,  chairman  of  the  Oahu 
County  Committee  of  the  Democratic  Party  of  Hawaii;  Dr.  Ernest  I. 
Murai,  who  so  patiently  and  insistently  worked  on  me  and  constantly 
preached  Americanism  to  me. 

They  worked  on  me  without  knowledge  that  I  was  a  member  of  the 
Communist  Party.  It  was  they  who  convinced  me  in  such  a  fashion 
that  led  me  to  the  determination  to  break  my  ties  with  the  Communist 
Party. 

Later  on  other  good  citizens,  through  discussions  on  community 
problems  and  through  friendly  association,  gave  me  further  encourage- 
ment to  become  a  good  American.  Among  these  are  Capt.  Sakal 
Takahashi,  now  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  the  City  and 
County  of  Honolulu,  and  formerly  president  of  the  famed  One- 
Hundredth  Infantry  Club;  Mr.  Dave  Benz,  secretary  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  of  Hawaii;  Mr.  Daniel  Aoki,  former  president  of  the 
Four  Hundred  and  Forty -second  Infantry  Club;  also  Capt.  Daniel 
Inouye  and  other  good  citizens. 

Also,  I  thank  your  committee  for  granting  me  this  opportunity  to 
testify  before  you  in  order  that  I  may  be  able  to  make  my  contribution 
to  my  country  by  bringing  to  light  whatever  I  know  about  Com- 
munist activities  in  the  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

Thank  you. 

Mr.  Walter.  Mr.  Kawano,  the  committee  is  indebted  to  you  for 
coming  this  great  distance  in  order  to  give  us  the  benefit  of  your  deep 
knowledge  of  the  machinations  of  this  group  of  international  con- 
spirators. 

If  more  people  would  come  forward  now  and  aid  this  committee  in 
its  effort  to  bring  to  the  American  people  an  appreciation  of  what  is 
going  on,  I  don't  think  there  would  be  any  real  danger  from  com- 
munism after  a  ver}^  short  time. 

I  don't  think  the  hard-shell  corps  is  so  strong  as  to  in  anywise  affect 
our  free  institutions,  but  when  they  can  influence  the  thinking  and 
the  actions  of  well-meaning  but  misguided  people,  then  the  whole 
movement  does  present  a  very  serious  menace ;  and  you  have  aided  us 
immeasurably. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  you  did  not  feel  you  were  able  to  make  the 
statement  you  have  made  today  in  Hawaii,  because  I  believe  others 
would  have  been  encouraged  to  come  forward,  because  I  believe  yours 
is  the  best  testimony  we  could  have  gotten. 

Again,  in  behalf  of  the  committee  and  myself,  I  express  my  sincere 
appreciation  of  your  contribution. 

Mr.  Velde.  May  I  add  my  congratulations  to  you,  also. 


COMMUNIST   ACTIVITIES    IN    HAWAII  53 

^^l■.  Doyle.  May  I  explain  the  reason  I  had  to  leave  this  committee 
and  was  not  here  the  early  part  of  this  afternoon,  although  I  was  here 
this  morning.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Armed  Services  Committee, 
and  we  were  in  e.xeeutive  session  at  the  same  hour,  so  it  wasn't  that  I 
was  not  interested  in  what  you  had  to  say,  but  I  had  an  obligation 
there. 

Mr.  Walter.  The  subcommittee  stands  adjourned. 

(Thereupon,  an  adjournment  was  taken  at  5:50  p.  m.) 

X 


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